Headache
by RhoswenCartel
Summary: Luffy has been in the facility for ten months. His big brother, Ace, is not going to let him rot there any longer. modern!AU, OOC!Luffy Kid!version. Rated M for gore in chapter 11 just to be sure.
1. Chapter 1: The C-Section

**Disclaimer: I do not own one piece.**

 **I changed some details at the end of the chapter to make it fit better with where the story is going, but nothing major!**

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I walked in the corridor like I did every day, heading toward the cafeteria. I didn't make a sound or looked up, You don't want to catch any of the guard's attention. It would be stupid. Something you learn pretty quickly. I was in my place in line, right after another kid. He had black hair and always seemed tired. We had to walk at a steady pace, not to fast so we wouldn't seem like we were trying anything funny, and not to slow so we wouldn't delay the schedule. I took a tray and slide it, waiting for a plate to be put on it to go take my drink before sitting at our table. The woman who served me didn't even look up, like most people from the outside.

I sat in my usual seat between the tired boy, Law his name was, and the girl who walked behind me in line, a girl named Robin. We were sitting in the kids' section, All 'patients' under 20 were put aside in the same section so we could talk with people our age when we were permitted to talk.

I put my two hands on both sides of my tray, waiting for the speech before we could eat, everyone else mimicking my behavior. At the table beside us was the P-section, right behind us was the Z-Section, just beside the RZ-Section, the L-section in the back of the cafeteria and finally the H-section, who was rarely eating at the same time as them, making them a mysterious bunch. They were the one with the most security around them and would rarely be able to talk to the others They weren't here today too, probably already in test chambers. It wasn't often that we could talk with someone outside your section, but it happened every week or so, and people would often exchange small pieces of paper without any guard noticing during those time. The scariest thing at the facility was the forgotten. Being part of the unlucky was bad enough, being caught in here and all, but thinking of being a forgotten was worse. Nobody talked about them and nobody was allowed to. The only thing we knew about those who were taken away was that you would never see them again and hear sometimes, at night, their screams, pleading for death, since it was always a better option.

"Today, the Z-Section are to be in the testing chambers of the third district at 9:35. RZ-Section at the training chambers of the second district at 10:00. L-Section at the medical wing of the first district at 9:25. P-Section is on chores, Cleaning the mess of the fourth district. For the children of the C-Section, Public room at 9:45. Be sure to be done before your assignment. Lunch will be delayed for C-Section, you will eat at 12:45. You may eat now. Dialogue in your own table is allowed." The voice from the intercom spoke.

Taking my hands of the side of my tray, I carefully picked my spoon to begin eating my breakfast. The food wasn't really good, it mostly didn't taste anything actually.

"Luffy are you alright?" Robin told me with a worried glare.

"Yes. I am. Just, I miss being a free-roamer." Law elbowed me in the ribs.

"Shut it." He said quietly as a guard passed by. There was a lot of things you couldn't do or have in here, thinking about freedom was one of them.

"S-So, we are in public room today?" I said nervously. This was probably the thing I hated the most. Since we were kids and mostly harmless, we were the ones who were assigned to the public room the most. It was, above the tests, training and daily (drug to improve our capabilities) medicine, the most dehumanizing experience. Nobles would come to look at them like a freak show! Some of them even came to the public room to see their abilities from up close. They were like a zoo. It was awful. The thing that made the experience less of a pain was this one boy. He was a noble too, but he didn't look at him like a toy or entertainment, he would try to understand him. Be fascinated by him. When he first came, the raven boy had been wary, but after a while, they had started talking casually and even became somewhat friends.

The young noble had blond hair and a blue noble attire. He always wore a Top-hat decorated with a pair of goggles. Sabo was his name. He was, in fact, the only noble who didn't give a wave of superiority, he was kind and would secretly teach him or give him a few things. The body search and security was always lower for the C-Section after all.

"Yes, we are. Do you think Blondie-ya will be there today?" Law said in a playful tone.

"I like Sabo! He is nice and doesn't think I am a monster!" Chopper, a reindeer with a human Zoan fruit had said. He was one of the youngest, being only 5 when he was brought in 2 years ago. I had attached myself to the little blue-nosed boy since I got here, which was precisely 10 months ago. I have turned 10 a few weeks ago, but I was still one of the youngest. Robin was 13 and Law 14. The eldest in the C-Section always took the new ones and the youngest under their wings to keep them out of trouble.

"I hope he is there too, he reminds me of-" I froze and looked down. I shouldn't have started thinking about that. I shouldn't even hope to see him again, he is a free-roamer. I just continued cherishing the memories I had of us together and free.

 _"I know we don't have a lot, but we are still free, so it shouldn't matter right?"_

 _Well, now I don't even have my freedom._

Finishing my tasteless meal, I stood and walked to the counter where I put my tray, my bowl and my glass in their respective pile and the spoon in the plastic container right next to it. The L-Section had already left since it was now 9:20, meaning we had 15 minutes before we had to walk to the public room. Sitting back in my chair, I notice everyone was stiff. A guard had walked up to us.

"We have a new patient in the C-Section, He is going to be tested during the time you are all in the public room, he will be joining you for lunchtime. Now start heading there." He said in a harsh tone. we didn't move for a few seconds, waiting to see if he had something else to say. If you interrupted a guard by standing during the time he was still speaking, it was 3 hours in isolation, which was one of the shortest time in isolation. Which wasn't simply standing in a small unlit room. Isolation was a nicer way of saying torture if you asked anyone actually. If it was physical or mental torture depended on the mood of the guard who was supervising you, since they liked getting their stress out on someone. But the more original guards who were more sadistic were incredibly and surprisingly good at making an adult have nightmares for months.

When the guard turned away and walked to the RZ-Section's table, we all stood and walked in line to the Public room. We always were in the same order, going by the order of our room chambers' numbers. Mine was C-5. The facility was pretty big, but you would never get lost since if you were out of your group, you were in isolation and the one in front of the line had been there at least a year, which meant he knew exactly where he was going. Plus, there were guards at every corner. Walking along the long grey corridors, we finally made it to the public room. We all stood in line by the wall without leaning against it, hands at our eyes level, clearly showing we had nothing in them. The door closed and we heard a small whistle from the intercom. We all waited 3 seconds then started walking around aimlessly. There were a few things in the rooms, objects like balls, cubes, and grips on the sealing to display of their abilities.

The blond noble came for around an hour between 10 and 11, and, during that time, Luffy smiled. Not a fake smile like everyone wore for the nobles when they entered the Public room, it was real.

The rest of the time, Luffy did tricks to entertain the nobles. If you were somewhat entertaining enough, the guards would be a little bit less rough. But just a little bit was considerable enough to make the users want to display their abilities. Law was making objects levitate and switch place. Robin sprouted arms like flowers. Chopper would shift into different forms. Nothing major or actually interesting. Like always. Except for Sabo, Luffy was very wary of the nobles. Especially the kids. They would always want to touch them and use them like toys, which made the raven-haired boy extremely uncomfortable.

"Luffy!" The raven turned around and grinned. Sabo always manages to make him happy, even if he didn't do anything yet.

"How are you today, Sabo?"

Sabo had always been really kind and friendly to him. Sometime he would ask questions about the facility and the person in them and always seemed really interested in what the other boy said. He would start talking about the mean scientists and the good people in there, like Makino.

Makino was one of the nurse and caretakers. She would always be sort of like a mother, kind and considerate, but she wasn't the norm, most of the scientists and caretakers were horrible.

"-And also, Rocinante is really funny and is always good to us, not like Akainu." The blond looked at Luffy and nodded.

"That is great!" The blond grinned.

"Yeah, but I almost never get assigned to him, it's mostly Law who is." Luffy sighed.

"Sabo, we are leaving!" Said a voice from behind.

"Yes, mother. I am coming." He turned and went back to his house.

The raven-haired boy looked up to the grips on the sealing and swung one arm to grip it. His aim was still a little of, but he managed to do it on the third try. Snapping upwards, Luffy was now hanging from there. He would often do that to have a break from the noble kids, and they would find it really fun to have a kid gripped up there, for some reasons.

When public room time was over, Luffy returned to line hands in the air. After the small whistle and the nobles all out of the room, they walked back to the cafeteria. The other sections were already done and were all on their afternoon assignment. Luffy took his tray, the food was served and he sat at his usual table, two hands on each side of his tray. Two guards came with the new boy in between them. Nobody looked up, in fear of getting punished. When they finally could look at the new boy, Luffy froze. The boy smiled at him and sat in his place right next to him. Tears threatened to fall on his cheeks.

 _Ace..._

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 **So... this is a cliffhanger for the first chapter of my new fic, Headache. I hope you enjoyed it.**


	2. Chapter 2: The Newcomer

**So, here is the second chapter of Headache. I hope you will enjoy it.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own One piece.**

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 _Why? How did you get caught?_

The young raven haired boy was sitting still, unable to speak, move or even think. One of the two guards paused, then talked in a strict tone.

"This is Ace. Portgas Ace. He will be with you in the C-Section, room C-6 since it has been unoccupied for a while. He will be assigned to one of you to learn the rules of the facility. Where is the youngest Portgas?" He scrolled between the different faces then stopped on Luffy. "There. Portgas Luffy. You will be in charge of that since you already know about the rules of the facility. For the first two weeks, every mistake he makes will be taken upon you. You are in charge of making him learn so it will be your fault if he can't. Be sure to make him stay in line." Luffy nodded and looked down at his tray.

"You may begin now." Both guards went back to their post at one of the corners of the cafeteria.

The children and teenagers of the C-Section started to eat calmly with the newest member analyzing everything and putting it into practice.

"So you are Luffy's brother?" Law asked, a little surprised by the newcomer.

The two raven boy looked at each other, blinked and looked back in Law's direction.

"Yes." They deadpanned in unison.

"Another Portgas. Just our luck. Like the first one wasn't already a handful." Kidd snarled from the other side of the table. Ace shifted to look at the red-haired teen before asking. "You got a problem?"

The youngest simply pulled his shirt and whispered to Ace. "Don't start a fight. I will get in trouble for that. You speak to loud too. Keep it down. Eat your food slower and never look any guard more than two or three seconds. Don't speak to anyone when we aren't suppose to and **never** speak of anything that could subject that you would, in even one of your craziest dream, think of getting outside."

 _In other words, freedom is forbidden here._

 _It only took ten months._ It seemed to Ace that Luffy wasn't the same as last time he saw him. He was ripped apart, his will and desires were reduced to nothingness. He had resigned himself to the ways of his new existence inside of his glorified prison hidden as a 'Facility made to help and develop the capacities of ability users'. More of a torture chamber made to break and reform the perfect war tools. _Luffy... Am I to late to save you?_

"Don't worry, I am stronger now. I can take one session." He said in a confident voice. Maybe Ace was wrong. "How did you get caught?" He hushed, in a barely noticeable voice.

"Thrown a tantrum at the nobles gate. Said I wanted my little brother. Lost a bit of my temper and showed a brisk of flames. Got taken here right away." They both smirked.

"It was planned?"

"I don't do reckless things like that, of course it was!" Ace said in the same low voice.

Luffy rolled his eyes. "You do, but if you would have really lost your temper, there wouldn't be a gate anymore. I guess I can safely say you aren't lying."

"Do you know a way of communicating with other sections?"

"You are talking to the right person."

"I need this to be given to a certain man..."

Luffy closed his eyes and tried to remember the details of this particular man. RZ _-Section. Room RZ-3. Caught a little less than 11 months ago... This was going to be interesting._

Their conversation was barely noticeable, even to Law who was sitting right next to it. The movement of their lips was reduced to a minimum, disguised as the movement you would make to eat and their voice could only be heard if you really concentrated on it. Even then, you weren't going to hear everything.

"Why?" the smaller one started to get curious. He had to pass a lot of messages around with Law's help, of course, but he couldn't help but think this one was more important than the others.

"He's on the move."

Luffy froze for a second then continued eating normally when a guard glanced at him for a quick second. It wasn't the time to get attention. "Leave a small rock on your nightstand. That is how we communicate." Ace frowned lightly before he nodded.

"How?"

"Law's fruit and my... assistance. You'll figure it out."

The C-Section had always been underestimated. The kid section. They didn't put any sea-stone bracelet on their wrist since kids would always get sick if they were weakened for a long period of time. Most of them had little to no control on their fruit so they didn't really worry about them using it the way Law did. They wouldn't get sea-stone before they turned 20 or showed great control of their fruit, if the fruit was actually harmful. All Law had shown he could do was taking small objects and making them levitate in a 'room' with a small radius. But, the teen wasn't bad, he could manage to put a 'room' over all of the dorms. switching small pieces of paper with small rocks. Luffy was the one who got the messages and gave them to Law. He had also all the information on who was in what room of what section and managed to get Law each location.

Robin helped a lot with the info gathering until she got wrist cuffed once they saw how her ability could be used against them. She had been more silent since then and seemed always a little tired, but she kept her smile. Luffy was always there to cheer everyone up. Though the latter wasn't as energetic as he had been, Ace couldn't help but notice that he was still a happy-go-lucky idiot most of the time. His smile hadn't change, He would just keep it to the people he cared about.

"Just... don't drink too much at dinner time, there are sleepy things in it. That is why they don't put cameras in our rooms."

"C-Section, test chambers of the third district this afternoon. You are to leave in twenty minutes." The intercom announced.

"Don't show to much of what you can do or you'll get cuffed." Luffy hushed.

"I know, I ain't stupid."

"Ace, what is your fruit?" The raven turned to face the tiny reindeer. He had wide eyes and seemed to be completely in awe of the newcomer. Chopper barely remembered the outside world, seeing someone who recently had seen the sky and the ocean was really exiting, even if he couldn't ask anything about it.

"Logia, fire type." came the short abrupt answer.

"Luffy-ya is your brother, but we never heard of you." Law deadpanned, quite surprised that the kid never once mentioned the teen. They seemed really close by the way they would converse and were pretty synchronized in their way of eating. The only thing that bugged him was how they responded when they first asked if they were brothers.

"Yes, even if we are brothers, Luffy probably didn't mention it because he is an air-head. That is all." Somehow, that answer wasn't satisfying. That or it wasn't entirely true.

Robin gave a weak smile to the eldest of the two brothers before they all continued to eat silently. Even if he didn't show it, Ace was highly uncomfortable. Seeing Luffy eat slowly and carefully, actually having table manners wasn't natural. It seemed forced and preppy. Only thinking of what they could have done to Luffy to beat those manners into his brain made him want to puke. Luffy was supposed to be free.

"We are tested next. Be prepared. Stay in control." Luffy said in his most serious voice he could get. The elder actually shivered.

 _"Ace. Whatever happens, don't get caught."_

"Don't worry."

One by one, they finished their barely eatable 'food' before going to set down the tray, utensils and plate at their respective place. Then the whole group went in line by a wall, palms raised at their eyes level and Ace mimicking the peculiar behavior before they walked down the halls to get to the third district. They all stood in front of their assigned room and waited silently for the door to open. Even when it did, they had to wait to get invited in before they could actually enter and sit on the uncomfortable bed in the middle of the room.

 **Testing chamber 3-04, Trafalgar Law.**

Law entered the room and sighed in relief internally. It wasn't someone he would fear and make him suffer, it was Rosinante. He was one of the scientist who would never hurt one of the users. He had actually been at one of those facilities. Even if Trafalgar thought the man had been completely brainwashed by those bastards, he was a good man who always seemed happy. He gestured the teen to get seated. Law obeyed and watched as the man took a plate with several objects to make Law try to move them around in one of his 'room'. What surprised him though, was when his eyes landed on a scalpel. They never were able to manipulate, let alone see something sharp that could potentially hurt any guard or scientist.

Rosinante took it and smiled, making Law go pale, before making a deep cut on his own fore-arm. Law actually internally panicked. He looked up in horror as the man was still smiling at him, like tossing Law's concern aside.

"I heard your fruit had medical use. Why not try to close my wound." He said in a calm manner.

Law bit his lips. The blood was flowing heavily. He made a small room around the two of them and started operating. It wasn't anything hard to do, stop the bleeding and close an open wound, but the whole thing made him uneasy. He had to do it correctly since Rosinante was the only scientist he kind of cared about, but he also had to do it a little sloppily to make them believe he didn't have full control and not raise suspicion. Being to good with your fruit was bad. Having Zero control over it was worse.

"It's okay, relax." Law looked up to the man. He was wearing one of his stupidly large grin, which made Law release a large breath he didn't know he was holding. He continued his operation with shaky hands. After a few more minutes, the wound was closed. They wiped up the blood. Putting his hands on his sides, he gripped tightly the mattress, staining it in blood, and gritted his teeth. Rosinante was still looking at him with his impossible smile, only to make Law's expression soften.

Everything was going well, he often had Rosinante when they were at the test chamber. He was kind of lucky in that sense. Most of the scientist who were in contact with them were strong fighters or devil fruit users. They had to be strong in case anything goes south. Rosinante didn't have a fruit that was really useful in this kind of situation, so he assumed that was why he was assigned to Law; his fruit wasn't really made for combat either, even if it could be used as such, and the way to use their devil fruit both involved making a 'room'. The teen was happy with that at the very least, some of the scientists were crazy or just mean. At least, it wasn't all of them.

 **Testing chamber 3-07, Nico Robin.**

Aokiji. That was the name of the man who was testing the black-haired girl. He was really distant, never showing any positive or negative response to anything she did. Robin didn't particularly appreciate the man, he was part of those who took her to the facility. He took off her sea-stone cuff on her left hand. Adults in the facility actually had one on both hands, but the C-Section only had one, if they had any.

She let out a deep sight. Having your energy sucked out of you all day long was tiring, even if you started getting used to it. Already being cuffed meant she didn't really bother to hide her capacities as much as the others did. She crossed her arms and started sprouting arms near her. Aokiji simply made the usual tests, without ever saying a word. They even tried to make robin sprout a copy of herself, but she didn't manage to do it yet.

This was all topped with the usual tests. Body scans, pulse, blood sample and others. Some were specific to certain devil fruits or certain types, They would try and see if you could get a pulse on one of the sprouted arms, to which you surprisingly could and tested if she could feel the pain in the limbs she created, but they usually dissipated in petals when they got hit.

 **Testing chamber 3-06, Portgas Ace.**

"Show me what you can do."

That is all the man said once Ace had sat on the bed table of the white room.

"I don't know how." Ace said, in an irritated tone. Smoker wasn't exactly what you can call soft or kind. He wanted result and now. He had never been the best with children, but Ace was a logia so it was bound to interest the man.

"Do something. We saw you use fire at the gate and you get weakened by sea-stone so don't deny you are a fruit user." Ace grit his teeth.

"I am not in denial, I just don't know how!" He smirked internally. Making them believe he couldn't produce flame unless he was upset was a good way to make them less wary. The worst thing they could do was stuff him with pills so he wouldn't throw a tantrum. This would make them think they had control over his powers.

"Concentrate brat!" Smoker shouted.

Ace looked at his hand and concentrated, but he wouldn't set himself on fire unless he had 'lost his temper'. He took a deep sight. He was actually kind of happy to be assigned with Smoker, the man probably was worse than him in the matter of being a hot head.

"It's not working."

"Concentrate harder!"

"I am concentrated!"

"Doesn't look like it."

"I am doing my best!"

"Well, your best ain't enough!"

"Would you stop talking?! I am trying to concentrate." Small flames flicked on Ace's shoulder. The scientist smirked.

"You are going to talk to me on another tone brat!" he responded loudly before punching the kid. Not changing into flames was actually harder than he thought at first. All his reflexes made him instantly let the blows pass right through his form, so he had to really block those reflexes to let the blow hit him.

"You know, next time you aren't showing me enough respect, there will be consequences. But, since you are assigned to your little brother, I guess you won't be the one who will have those consequences inflicted to." Ace's eyes narrowed and he gripped the fabric of the mattress tightly. _Damn it._ he thought. _I already showed them my biggest weakness..._

They continued with a few tests in silence. Even if some were painful, he didn't even flinch. Smoker wasn't a bad man. Maybe a little rough and not really comprehensive, but he did his job correctly without hurting anyone more than he had to.

 **Testing chamber 3-08, Tony Tony Chopper.**

Chopper entered the room and sat like the women with pink hair had told him to. Her name was Hina and she was a strict woman. She wouldn't show emotions, but wouldn't hurt the 'patient' purposely.

"You are going to have this medicine and it is going to force you into another transformation. One that will be more like a human than your present form."

Most of the tests for Zoans involved drugs. They always searched for new ways to make the Zoans stronger and scarier. They weren't scared of having the little reindeer escape and turn against them, since the only thing the small Zoan knew was this facility. Chopper was a perfect test subject since he had been taken here before he ever could understand what he was. One of the scientist actually saw the reindeer eating the human fruit and brought him right after. He had never complained since his life before was a life of solitude and rejection from his own herd.

Chopper took the medicine. It was always weird to feel the transformation happening when he wasn't the one controlling it. He had never shown he could transform to a few forms on his own, it managed to make the scientists feel like Chopper was less of a threat than anyone. He had transform in his human form. Like that, even if he didn't exactly look human, he was much taller. But, since he was only seven, his transformation wasn't stronger or taller than an average adult human. Maybe a little bit stronger, but not that much. Still, the pink haired scientist took his pulse and started doing multiple tests on the young user.

 **Testing chamber 3-05, Portgas Luffy.**

Luffy entered the room with a smile. He sat down and watched as the scientists in front of him prepared his material. _Good thing Akainu is not the one testing me today._ The man was known throughout the facility as the torturer, when he said he was doing tests, you felt like it was torture and if he was the one applying your punishment, you just wished you were dead. But today, Luffy was met with the sight of an older woman, her name was Tsuru, and a new intern, Coby. He was probably around 17 years old, if you went by his look. The woman was showing him how to make the usual tests. It wasn't a really tough test session and he was glad. Most of the time, Akainu was the man assigned to Luffy and a little change made him relieved.

Still, the man had to be testing someone.

Closing his eyes, he tried to locate the man quickly. _Training with the Logias..._ Good. This meant Ace wasn't stuck with him either.

The woman was showing the intern how to do his usual work on devil fruit users. He was definitely experienced in medicine and the scientific field, but it was a lot harder on devil fruit users, especially logias if they weren't cuffed. They took blood samples to analyse before they started to make tests on the fruit capabilities. After this, they started the pain resistance test. Since none of the object they threw at him or swung at him were sharp, the raven haired boy didn't feel any of the damage.

"So, nothing that isn't sharp can hurt you... Let's try bullets." The older woman said in a dull tone. She picked out her gun and pointed it at the child.

"You shouldn't! You can't be a hundred percent sure it won't kill him!" The intern shouted in disbelief.

"Those aren't sea-stone, his chances are good. I believe it will not really hurt the brat."

Luffy actually froze. He had never been shot before, even he didn't know the outcome of this test. The woman was pointing directly at his heart, if it would hurt him, he'd die. If he evaded the attack, he would be sent directly to the highest security section; the H-Section. But if it bounced back, it would be okay. All he could do was hope for the third option. Gripping the bed sheets and squeezing his eyes shut, he waited for her to pull the trigger.

 _BAM!_

Every child of the C-Section froze. The gunshot had echoed through the whole district. Even the scientists, who were used to testing real bullets on devil fruit users, stopped everything they were doing. Using bullets on a kid? It wasn't often. Even logias didn't exactly know how to shift to their logia form, it wasn't a reflex yet.

Rosinante came out of his test chamber almost immediately and had motioned Law to follow behind him. The gunshot came from the chamber right next to them. _Luffy..._ The scientist knocked on the door frantically while Smoker, followed by Ace, came out of the room right next to it. Soon enough and one at a time, all of the scientist currently working in the C-Section were at the door while the kids were all in line leaning nervously against the wall. What seemed like hours was in reality less than a minute.

The door opened with Tsuru still holding the gun, Coby who was checking Luffy's unmarked skin and the latter covered in sweat and eyes widened, still in a sitting position. A bullet was laying on the floor right under a scratch had appeared on the wall. At this sight, everyone let go a deep breath they didn't even know they were holding, including the scientists and the few teens that said they didn't care about the little raven.

Still, the one who was the most relieved of this was Ace. Loosing his little brother had been really hard the first time around and now that he could finally see him again, he had been scared of loosing him a second time. Only this time, it would have been permanent and all his efforts would have been in vain.

 _Luffy is stronger than that, he will be alright._ _Everything is alright. Everything is going according to the plan._

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 **Thanks for the positive response for my first chapter by the way! For the grammatical errors, I am sorry. I will try to put more effort into correcting my work, but English isn't my first language (It's french actually). This story isn't really popular for now so I don't think I will have a beta-reader for a while (if I ever have any).**

 **I will be waiting for your reviews, it helps a lot and makes me think of ways to make the story even better!**


	3. Chapter 3: Messages

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own One piece, since this is a fan fiction.**

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Everyone was back in line by the wall, except Ace was tightly clutching to his little brother who was still shaking a little, but had settle, as if he was scared he would disappear. The few scientist who actually noticed because they were done with their shock, let the two brothers hug for a minute or two before they were separated. They did without any resistance. All of the C-Section's ability users were looking at the smallest of the two brothers. Seeing him shocked and startled was really odd, the boy always managed to smile or hide his emotions. I guess being shot, even if it didn't hurt, was a scary experience for the ten year old boy. They made their way to the cafeteria as usual and saw that most of the other sections were already eating. But weirdly, it was as if, even if they couldn't talk to each other, they were all waiting for the C-Section. Luffy seemed to have completely calmed down and had moved to his seat like usual.

"You shouldn't talk to Luffy-ya during dinner." Law recommended to the eldest Portgas.

Ace frowned a little before turning to his little brother. He was deeply concentrated while eating. Then it hit him; Luffy was listening to everything that was happening in the cafeteria, he was using haki. It was really hard to tell if you didn't know him or if you didn't pay attention. Plus, none of the guards were really wary of the C-Section. They would throw quick glances, But the L-Section or RZ-Section were more often what they would worry about.

They had both learned some basics, but Luffy was better at observation haki, while Ace was better at armament haki. Even if he would try to understand what Luffy was concentrating on specifically, he wouldn't be able to do so. It even seemed like he had gotten way better at it in the last 10 months they had been apart.

"He is getting the list of senders" Robin said in a low voice.

Ace didn't turn to face her, simply side-glanced at her, Informing the woman he was listening.

"People who wants to give a message to someone from another Section gives him a signal, Three small knocks on the table. _Tap... Tap Tap."_ Knowing this, Ace actually noticed someone that on the table right next to them a woman was doing the code while she was talking with the person next to her.

"Then, he relies the information to Law-san and he does the shipping during the night." Ace nodded. He had to admit, he thought Luffy was broken already when he first came in, but he hadn't change. Always trying to help his friends. Always trying to help people he didn't even know. Once, he had asked him why he would make any effort for a stranger. The little raven-haired boy had smiled.

 _"It's because I can"_

He was actually glad of his randomness for once, he, with Law, had invented a way to communicate with pretty much anyone in the facility, even if the H-Section was really hard to reach. He was proud, even if he didn't know who of Law, Robin or Luffy had come up with the idea, he couldn't help but be filled with pride since his little brother was actually someone people relied on in the facility. Maybe they didn't even know they were relying on Luffy, They could have never been informed of it, but Luffy didn't care for the glory. He was just okay with helping them simply because, apparently, he could.

Coming out of his train of thought, Ace realized how terrible his soup tasted. He was about to drink water to wash the taste off, but he stopped himself, remembering Luffy's advice. Right... The water was drugged. The soup was pale green and tasted like Brussels sprouts and medicine. There was also, somehow, the fancy and delicate taste of dirt thrown into the mix and even Ace, who wasn't that much of a great cook couldn't understand how you could mess up that bad. The only explanation he thought of how it could have happened was that the cooks had spilled the Brussels sprouts and ability-enhancer-drug soup on the ground outside in a garden or something like that and had picked it up anyway to give it to them.

Luffy had finished his dinner and went to put his tray away. He sat back and sighted. He had finished gathering the list of senders for tonight. A total of eleven, If you counted Ace and himself. Not to busy night. The most he had gotten had been 27, and it was mostly because everyone wanted to know what the hell happened in the training Chambers of the second district when their had been some explosions and they all had been shut down in their rooms for around an hour, beating the usual 20 to 25 when something happened in the fourth district. Because yes, it happened often that something big or plainly weird happened in the fourth district, Like the mess that happened just the day before. The fourth district had two purpose; Punishments and torture. You weren't assigned to the fourth district with your section, you were brought there to suffer. There was a lot of rules for the scientists so they wouldn't hurt the ability users during tests or training, but, apparently, none of those applied in the fourth district.

He knew everyone's name and room number in the facility, After getting all the information from Robin, he had memorized every name, face and room number so that he could get the messages to the right person. It saved them so much time from the way they originally did it. Every time someone new came, him or Law would subtly get the information from one of the friendlier scientist; Rosinante as an example or one of the nurse or others of the medical staff of the first district. They had to never ask the same person two times in a row and other things like that to not raise suspicion, but they always managed, again, because no one was really wary of the C-Section.

Well maybe not no one, but it was rare. Akainu was one of those, he had never treated the C-Section differently than the others. The same dull but piercing look, the same hate and, above all else, the same punishments.

 _L-Section room L-3 and L-7... P-Section room P-2, P-5, P-10 and P-17... Z-Section room P-2 and P-9... C-Section room C-5 and C-6... RZ-Section room RZ-2._

Some Sections where more populated than others, The P-Section had the most people in it and were around 45. They usually had to use all of the rooms when coming into a district for tests or other things and had to switch. That was why they spent more time to each session and why they were often picked to clean messes, 45 people cleaning made the job 45 times faster than any staff member and it didn't cost any extra money, even if they had plenty, being paid by the nobles and government. They were followed by the Z-section and C-Section who had less than half of the ones from the P-Section 18 for the Z-Section and 14 for the C-Section, then L-Section with 9 and finally the RZ-Section who didn't have more than 5. All of this for a total of 91 names, faces and room numbers Luffy had to learn and associate to each other.

Of course, this was without counting the H-Section.

The thing they dared to call a meal was over, so the ability users, like always, went in their usual lines and walked to their rooms. The C-Section had 20 room, though 6 weren't being used at the moment. The rooms 1 to 10 were on their left and 11 to 20 on the right. They all stood in front of their door in the small corridor before all the doors opened, letting them walk inside and shutting behind them.

The room was plain. It had 4 white walls, a vent for aeration, a bed that wasn't that much more comfortable than the ones in the test chambers and a nightstand were you could put your belongings. Of course, those were only a bunch of white long sleeve shirts and bluish white pants with a C on it, representing what section they were in.

Ace sighed. How could his little brother survive in here for ten months? He had always craved adventure and freedom, this place was the exact opposite. The teen bit his lips. _If only I would've..._ Would have done what? Was there really something he could have done? He wasn't strong enough back then and he would still need some help right now. The thing is, Luffy loosing his freedom wasn't even the thing that hurt Ace the most. He had always wanted to keep Luffy out of it. Out of the devil's war, if you took the governments words. It was an underground war that you were bound to get involved with the second you took a bite in one of those fruits. On the first side, it was a war for power, on the other side, it was a war for freedom. Luffy and himself had been young when they took what seemed to them like a snack, but turned out to be one of the most life changing event of their lives.

He took a rock he had taken from the testing room earlier. The tests often involved the rocks being thrown at him fir some annoying reason and it wasn't like they took count of how many they had. The raven teen looked at it before putting it down on his nightstand. Curiously, he started wondering about the other teen's fruit. According to Luffy, it was because of his fruit that they could communicate.

Luffy, in his room on the right next to his big brother had aligned eleven rocks on the floor by the wall nearing law's room. stretching to the vent, he mad two short knocks, a signal to Law that everything was clear. a blue sphere enveloped him and the rocks for a few seconds before the ten rocks disappeared, being replaced with eleven folded pieces of paper. Every one of them had a name written on it. All Luffy had to do was write the correct room number on it. It was really easy for him now to do so.

Before, they had a bunch of extra steps that made the whole ordeal a lot longer, but with practice, they could do it all in less than ten minutes. Before, Law would switch Luffy and a blanket of place to get him in his room and he would walk Law through the delivery with his haki, but now he could manage to know were things were inside of his room. It was like he could use haki in it, but a lot less precise and he couldn't differentiate people with it. It was actually hard for him to concentrate, but with his training every night, it got a lot easier. Of course, he would have never thought of all of this without Robin or Luffy's help. It was like that for a lot of people in the C-section, even the ones who would never admit it. Luffy was someone who helped everyone push themselves to the extent of their capabilities and kept them from faltering in a place were it was so easy to be broken down.

After adding his own note, he wrote the room numbers on them with a crayon he got from one of the nurses, Makino. She was kind and would give them paper and crayons to entertain themselves and draw before going to sleep. Of course, they wouldn't use those for something like that, but Luffy still liked the gesture. Making sure there were no guards around, he made two short knocks on the vent again. A few seconds later, all of the rocks were back and the little raven went to hide them under the mattress again before he dozed off to sleep.

Ace looked at the note that appeared next to him. Unfolding it, a grin came to his face.

 _Hey Ace!_

 _I am happy to finally see you again! I was wondering if you were still okay after I got caught. If you want any information on anything in the Facility, tell me, I can answer. One thing you really need to know: When they give you shot with the syringe, fight the effects back. They will try to mess with your head. You just have to remember what is real and what isn't. I guess you already knew, but still. Don't mention the Monkey family, Gol family, or the will of the D., if they knew, we would already be dead. Law has delivered your message, so he should be informed by now. When you are done reading any message, get rid of it. People usually keep them short so it's easy to eat it (paper almost tastes like the cafeteria food, so it isn't really that difficult), but you can burn it up. All I can say for now is pray Akainu isn't assigned to you._

 _Good night!_

Ace couldn't help but wonder who was this man Luffy seemed to be somewhat afraid of as his flames licked the note. _Wonder what tomorrow brings..._

* * *

Massaging his sore muscles, the man went to sit back on his bed. Today hadn't been an easy day. Like every day, he put a rock on his nightstand and waited. He didn't get messages often, but it would happen from time to time. He heard there was a new kid in the C-Section. If he wasn't cuffed already, he could maybe help like that teen with the Opi Opi no mi or his little friend. He hissed. After all, it was pretty much his fault the kid was there in the first place.

The man heard a light shuffle by the nightstand. Looking up, he saw his rock had been replaced with a note with his name and room number written on it. The blond took it and unfolded it slowly with a bored expression. Upon reading the message, his eyes widened and changed to a playful smirk.

"Finally-yoi."

* * *

 **Third chapter is done! And finally, the first day in the facility is over! I don't know how long this fan fiction will be, but I hope you will stick to it until the end.**

 **If you haven't guess by now, the sections' letters are based on the devils fruit, With the exception of H and C**

 **C-Section - Children**

 **P-Section - Paramecia**

 **L-** **Section - Logia**

 **Z-** **Section - Zoan**

 **RZ-** **Section - Rare Zoan (Mystical and Prehistorical)**

 **H-** **Section - Haki**

 **There are some characters I don't know their names or just don't have one, especially the ones from Baroque Works (From the Alabasta arc) If you know some of them, or want to give me a name idea or any devil fruit users you would like to see in the story, please let me know.**


	4. Chapter 4: The Key

**Disclaimer: I still do not own One piece...**

* * *

A loud ringing noise came to Ace's ears, forcing him to wake up.

"The doors of your rooms will be unlocked in 30 minutes. Be sure to be seated in the dining hall for breakfast, it will be served in 45 minutes." A voice talked from the hall way.

The fire user stood up begrudgingly and walked barefoot on the cold floor, searching for his hospital footwear, as the scientist called them. They were more like plain white slippers, just a little less comfortable and would support the ankle a little better than slippers. They didn't really have anything solid in them to prevent them from harming anyone, (because yes, someone had manage to hurt only of the scientists with a slipper in the past) and wasn't really good for running or anything physical. Not like they needed to run and, when they trained, they were given different outfits.

Ace changed his clothe, even if they looked exactly the same. He tidied his bed and started looking around. _They wake us up half an hour before the time we can get out and we have nothing we can do in here..._

On the other side of the wall, in Luffy's room, there was a little more going on. The small boy was putting everything in place. Clothe folded in his nightstand's drawer, paper and crayons hidden under those. Rocks under his mattress. After his room was in order, the little boy started planning his day. Following the schedule pattern, today they should have public room in the morning and be sent in the medical wing for check ups and medication prescriptions in the afternoon.

This meant he would have to talk to Sabo about their first test on the keys and introduce him to Ace. About a month ago, A kid with a wax devil fruit had arrived. When Luffy and Law discovered the wax got as hard as steel once it hardened, the two took interest in the ability. They started making plans on making wax keys for all of the users of the facility. Tonight would be their first try, they would make a key for Robin's cuffs. They weren't sure how they would melt the wax in the cells of the other section's member, but now that Ace was here, the task seemed a lot more possible. It would take a lot of time to make all of them, but it wouldn't be for nothing. They only had one try after all, if any of the keys were found, the wax kid, Galdino, would be cuffed, making the task almost impossible.

For the check ups in the afternoon, he wasn't worried. It was actually the best assignment since Makino, the nurse who took care of him, was always really kind. public was great when Sabo was there, but otherwise it was awful.

When the door unlocked, Everyone got out of their small room almost immediately. Walking to the dining hall, Luffy spared a quick glance to Galdino. The kid had short black hair and glasses. The boy was around twelve if Luffy remembered correctly.

When they all sat at the table to wait for breakfast, Ace looked over at his little brother. He was smiling, just not as widely as he used to, but he was smiling none of the less. "Today, you'll probably meet Sabo." Ace raised an eyebrow.

"Sabo?"

"He is very nice. He was kind of like a big brother to me for the time you couldn't be there. Kind of like you. He helped me through the roughest times." Ace smiled back.

"If he did, then I can't wait to meet him."

The voice of the intercom told them they could eat. Ace noticed that on almost everyone's plate a small cup with one or two pills in it was put by one of the cooks and every cup had their number on it. Even Luffy had one. Before digging in their meal, They all took the pills and drank some water to make it easier to swallow. Ace bit his lips before returning to his own plate.

"Today, Z-Section are to be at the medical wing of the first district at 9:30. RZ-Section, you have to be at the testing chambers of the third district together with the L-Section at 9:40. P-Section in the training chambers of the second district at 9:35. C-Section in the public room at 9:25. One last thing. RZ-Section member RZ-3, you are summoned to the fourth district as soon as your plate is finished."

Everyone in the room tensed. Being summoned to the fourth district was never really pleasant. "This guy... He is the guy you wanted to contact." Luffy spoke in a low tone.

Ace shifted a little to see the RZ-3 member. He was looking at the intercom with a bored expression, still, his fists were clenched and betrayed his calm expression.

"Yes. He is the man." Ace spoke.

"He has been summoned a lot to the fourth district. I didn't really know why before, but I think I got it." Luffy said with confidence.

"Probably because he isn't a simple devil fruit user. He is more of a prisoner of war than a potential weapon for the government."

"Marco the Phoenix. Didn't know he was one of the commanders."

"Yeah, he was the one in charge of defending our neighborhood, when he got captured, the area wasn't safe from the government anymore, that is why you were taken." Ace said gritting his teeth.

"So, he sent you here?" Luffy said in a really low tone, barely even loud enough to be heard by Ace.

"He wanted to send someone to infiltrate the facility and get a way to help from the inside, so I volunteered. He didn't want until we learned they didn't put cuffs on kids. Said I would be more useful inside than anyone because of it."

"You know when he will strike?"

"Yes. We need everyone to be ready to fight back."

Luffy grinned. "It is good we are going to make keys." Ace's brow furrowed.

"What do you mean?"

"I'll tell you later. We will need your help."

After breakfast was over, Everyone moved to their assignment. Ace followed Luffy to the Public room. The entire goal of this room was funding the facility with even more budget than they already had. Making nobles pay to observe the ability users like they were animals in a zoo. But, the scientist kept saying it was only because it was good for them to see normal humans. Of course it was. Those normal humans would look at them like they were objects or just toys made to entertain them. Some would hit them to see a display of their powers. Of course, nobody ever said anything. They were nobles.

Sometime, when the ability of a user wasn't that strong, they would rent them for parties and such. This was even worse than the facility. It was hell. Luffy had been rented once and still shivered at the thought. Nobles were good at making you feel like you had no more value than a tool. Sometimes, they were better at breaking the spirit than almost all of the scientists, well, except the torturer, who could manage to break someones mind if the person had a weak willpower.

Sitting in the corner next to his brother, Luffy stared at the door of the Public room from where the nobles entered. Obviously, it wouldn't lead straight to the Outside world, but it was the only door he knew could lead to the outside. Their was probably one for the scientists, nurses and guards, but Luffy had a hard time finding it. Using haki to search for inanimate things was harder than searching for someones aura or avoiding an object sent flying at you. He knew at least most of the facility was underground with the dorms at the very bottom.

A blond noble in blue garment walked in the room with a smile. He walked directly to the two Portgas in the corner. Ace looked warily at the boy but didn't say a thing as he continued staring.

"Sabo!" Ace turned to face his little brother with a furrowed expression.

"Sabo is a noble? I didn't know Sabo was a noble when you talked about someone who is like a big brother to you!"

The blond smiled."So this is your big brother Luffy?"

The smaller of the trio nodded.

"Guess that makes him my brother too!" Ace growled.

"You are not mine or Luffy's brother."

Luffy glared at Ace with a pout. "Sabo is nice and is our brother now. You should get to know him better before you judge him."

"Outlook Sabo. Nice to meet you Portgas Ace." The top-hatted noble said as he lifted his hand. Ace took it and shook firmly.

"Sabo. We are trying to make Robin's key tonight." The youngest raven said softly as he suddenly took a more serious expression.

"Good. I won't be there tomorrow and I don't think you are assigned to the public room the day after. I will see you again three days. Tell me if it worked at that moment. Don't start making the ones for the other sections before that." Ace looked at the two with a curious expression.

"What kind of noble are you?" He asked quietly.

The blond smirked. "The fake kind." Both brothers eyes widened. Even after knowing Sabo for a while, he had never asked that kind of question, so it never came up.

"Your parents?" Luffy asked as he eyed the tall man and woman who came with Sabo.

"Infiltrates." Ace chuckled.

"You were on the verge of convincing me that some nobles could be good. I guess I was wrong. They are all scums since the only nice noble isn't even a noble."

"Sabo. You have to tell your father about one thing."

"What?" Luffy looked at Ace who sighed and gave a quick glance to the guards before coming closer to the blond.

"Whitebeard is going to make his move soon." Sabo nodded and wore a calculating expression.

Because of their suspicious behavior, guard started to approach as they all shut up.

"What are you kids talking about?" Sabo clenched his fist and looked at Luffy. The boy gave him a very small nod.

"Show me your powers you trash!" Sabo shouted angrily as he punched Luffy in the face. Ace grit his teeth and small flames licked his shoulders has he was about to punch back the blond, but Luffy took his wrist and gave him a stern look.

The raven haired boy stood and started using his rubber abilities with a neutral expression until the guard walked away.

"What the hell was that about?" Ace said not to loud for the guards to hear.

"Acting natural." The blond fake noble said.

"What part of punching Luffy in the face is acting natural?" Ace whispered angrily.

Luffy stood."Look around." With those words, Ace actually started paying attention to the rest of the room. The rest of the C-Section were all being insulted, punched and kicked if they didn't listen to any of the nobles command. All of the users were absently looking around with a neutral expression. It was as if the only way to keep themselves from faltering after all of it was to make yourself cold and emotionless to that situation. Stay in line to make everything less painful.

"You are telling me you have been living in this hell for 10 months?" Ace spoke softly.

"I wasn't alone."

Ace chuckled a bit. That was all he needed. All Luffy needed to stand back up after being completely destroyed by the facility was one thing. Not to be alone. The punches, insults in addition of the physical and mental torture were nothing compare to the dread feeling of loneliness. He shouldn't be surprised, Luffy had always had a strong spirit and, even if he would never admit it, Luffy had a stronger spirit than himself, he thought.

* * *

"It won't work-yoi."

Akainu gritted his teeth in annoyance.

"I am sure there is a way to break you."

"I am not a commander for nothing-yoi." The blond phoenix spat blood on the floor.

"You can't kill me since I have information that you absolutely want and have a devil fruit that you all love to experiment on. You can't break me since I have a strong will and you have nothing to hold against me since you don't know who are the people I care about. Face it-yoi. You loose.

"I am not giving up on precious information like that. Now tell me..." Akainu took a metal pipe and heated the end of it with his magma.

"What is Whitebeard's full name?"

"Like I would tell you-yoi." The torturer pressed the white-hot metal against the commanders bare chest. The latter bit back a scream and growled.

"What is his full name? His real name?"

"S-Screw You-yoi."

* * *

After an uneventful lunch, the C-Section started making their way to the medical wing.

"One of the nurse isn't here, the two Portgas will be assigned to the same room." One of the guards said severely.

"Understood." Responded the two in a synchronized fashion. When they entered the room, Luffy automatically smiled. Makino was sitting at her desk, filling up some extra paper work since she had two patients today. Out of all people, Makino was one of the few who could call them their patients without saying a lie. They weren't only test subject to her and Luffy really appreciated it.

The rooms of the medical wings were the only one who didn't have any cameras outside of the dorms. Which meant when the door shut, the two could hug and stay close without being pulled apart for once.

Ace clutched to his little brother almost greedily as he analysed the woman in front of him. She was wearing glasses and had dark green hair attached in a bun. She wore a light blue shirt and pants with a stethoscope around her neck. She stood and walked to the two brothers, making Ace's grip tightened.

"Don't worry. I am just going do simple check ups. I will try to give you the less pills I can considering the reports."

It all went really well, a lot better than in the test chamber the day before. first of all, Makino was really kind and smiled at them a lot and second, nobody got shot.

"You boys are perfectly healthy! Ace, I must prescribe you a small dose of tranquilizers because of the reports that Smoker made. I can reduce it to half a pill per meal though. The pills are to be taken at breakfast time. Luffy, I see your body is under less stress as before, I can reduce your dose by half if you would like." Luffy nodded with a smile, trying to not meet with Ace's worried glance.

"Why are you stressed?" Ace asked softly.

"The facility isn't always as easy to live in as you have witnessed since you came..." Luffy seemed to start having a hard time to breathe. "It can be so much worse."

"Lu, calm down I am here." ace whispered softly as he took his brother closer toward his heart, making him listen to his heart-beat and started passing his hand in his little brothers messy hair. This was something he picked up a few years back whenever the boy got scared. All those times they were alone and had to hide in a cramp space from the government's soldiers roaming the streets before they were found by Whitebeard.

The little boy's hand gripped the fabric of his brothers shirt before he calmed down to Ace's soothing gesture. After a few minutes, he fell asleep in his big brothers arm.

"I think I know why his body is under less stress now." Makino said with a smile.

"Huh?"

Your little brother seems to be in a better shape since you came and you have been here for only a day!" She sat back at her desk and started filling her reports for the two Portgas. "Take care of your little brother Ace." They stayed like that for around half an hour before the young sleeping boy woke up.

"I will ask the higher-ups to always assign both of you to me at the same time you can go, it will be dinner time soon." Ace bowed and thanked the woman while Luffy waved his hand and gave her one of his biggest smile before they returned in line by the wall of the corridor of the medical wing and their hands raised at their eye level, as always.

When they started eating in the dining hall, Luffy started taking the names of the senders when he noticed something odd. Marco, the man who had been summoned to the fourth district in the morning, wasn't in there. Thinking back, he hadn't been there during lunch either. The boy shivered. He probably had been tortured all day long. After a few minutes, Luffy felt the man coming. He was walking tiredly to his table and still had a bit of blood on his shirt.

Apart from that, the man seemed to have no visible wound and wore a somewhat satisfied smirk.

If they manage to make those keys, Luffy thought, this man deserved to have priority on one. No one was surprised by the Mythical Zoan's appearance, it had happened a lot before and it wasn't even one of the worst time. He had come back with a few fingers missing more than once, but they grew back the minute they removed his cuffs.

Ace stared at the commander for a few seconds before the phoenix's gaze met his. The man grinned and made a small gesture to the teen, saying he had received his message the previous night.

The rest of the dinner went by silently since Luffy was still concentrated on the senders. They only had 9 today. The C-Section, Galdino, Luffy, Law, Robin and Ace more specifically were slightly agitated. When they were all in their respective rooms, after sending the messages like usual, Law waited half an hour before switched the four others with blankets and pillows to get them all in his room.

"You want to try now?"

Galdino nodded weakly before he started creating wax around his fingers. He reshaped it in the form of a key before inserting it in Robin's wrist cuff. The key took the shape of the hole before it solidified. He turned the key and they all heard a click before the cuff fell to the floor. The four boys stared at the black-haired girl in silence before the girl started rubbing her sore wrist with a smile. She crossed her arms and looked as arms grew from the floor.

They all silently cheered at their accomplishment when Ace commented.

"How are you going to do that for every user in the facility? I don't think sending Galdino in every room would be a smart idea."

Luffy smirked. "That is where you are going to help us, brother. We will send lit candles to every one and they will melt the wax in their cuffs before sending us back the key mold for their cuffs since it wont be good enough to work like that. Galdino will make a real version of every key and I will keep track of what key belongs to who. We had a hard time figuring how we could light the candles before but it will be really easy now." Ace's eyes widened. Since he had acquired his fire powers, he had only seen the fighting advantages it could give. All of the devil fruit users had been human weapons in his eyes since he first learned of them. With how well Law, Robin and Luffy had thought about using their capabilities to their full potential even outside of a fight, Ace couldn't help but be deeply impressed

"Who comes up with all of your ideas? I mean, your mailing system is really well thought and this plan could actually be a big help if we want to make everyone escape." He asked.

Law grinned."Well, mostly Luffy-ya. Sometimes me, Robin or Sabo-ya help with the details, but Luffy-ya is always the one who comes up with those plans first." Luffy smiled at his brother who wore a proud smirk on his face.

"Probably got it from me!" Luffy chuckled.

"Not at all, you never think things through!"

"Well, from who else? My parents died before I could meet them and your parents weren't around at all!" The three other occupants of the room frowned.

"You don't have the same parents Luffy-ya, Ace-ya?" Law asked curiously.

"How do you and Ace-san have the same last name?" Robin said as she furrowed he brows.

"Portgas isn't our real last name." Luffy said in a really low tone.

"Are you bearer of the will?" Law asked. Robin's eyebrow twitched with interest as the two brother nodded while Galdino seemed completely lost.

"This is something you have to keep secret." Ace started as he raised his fist which was covered in thick flames. "Understood?" Law, Robin and Galdino nodded before the black-haired girl and short-haired boy were sent back to their room.

Ace and Luffy stared suspiciously at the teen.

"Relax Ace-ya. I am on your side whatever you may think. I wouldn't follow through all of your little brother's crazy whim if I wasn't. I wanted to tell you my full name, That is all."

"We know your name Torao." Luffy said in a simple matter.

"Actually, it is Trafalgar D. Water Law. Not Torao. What about yours?"

They both started understanding what that meant. Law was one of them. He was someone you could count on no matter what. Smirking, the two brothers looked up to the older teen.

"Monkey D. Luffy."

"Gol D. Ace."

* * *

 **Another chapter done!**

 **Thanks for your reviews, I am really happy you guys like the story so far!**

 **zoewinter1: I am happy you like the messaging system, it took me a while to think it thoroughly.**

 **Aside from that, I hope you like this new chapter.**

 **Until next time!**


	5. Chapter 5: The others

**Disclaimer: I didn't acquire the ownership of the One Piece mangas and animes between the time I posted the fourth and fifth chapter.**

* * *

Robin woke up that morning with a smile. She hadn't ever had such a good nights sleep since she had been cuffed and she truly, for the first time in a long while, felt like she had truly rested during that night. Of course, she would have to put it again in the next few minutes, but she was happy that Luffy, Law and Galdino had made it possible. She hid the key under a losen up tile of the ground. Soon, everybody in the facility would be able to free themselves from that burden and She couldn't be prouder. The first time she had seen Law, he was a mess. Maybe he didn't show it, but he had faced the most horrible things and couldn't even smile. They were both pretty alike in that matter. Then came Luffy. The boy who changed everyone's view of the future ahead of them and even the present. Where they saw suffering and loneliness, he saw new friendships and opportunities. Manipulating the rules to his liking while wearing a smile. True, Luffy had been less careless and happy-go-lucky than when he first came in, he had been put under more stress, but he always managed to stand back up, no matter what, for his friends.

Chopper. He was a bit harder to get. People actually misdiagnosed him as having Stockholm syndrome, since he didn't seem to hate the facility like everyone else. He seemed to be happy with his life, when actually he was just being glad. Glad he wasn't outside anymore. Even before he ate the fruit, he was rejected by his own family because of his unusual nose color. He was just happy not to be treated like a monster anymore. Even if he still was one, he wasn't alone. Their were other monsters who could understand him and actually appreciated him. He had finally made friends.

Law was kind of the opposite. He hated the facility and just wanted a way out. He had a comfortable life, a sister and two loving parents before a certain man came destroying his hometown in search of fruit users. He killed everyone, women, children and men alike, only because they weren't of any use to him. That is when Law lost his freedom. He was taken by Doflamingo. After witnessing the man kill his sister, Law and his parents had run back home. It was actually more like Law's parents dragged him back home in the basement were they had hidden a strange fruit and force-fed it to their boy. Law didn't get their action at first, he knew his parents had kept the Opi Opi No Mi and didn't know what to do with it while not wanting it to fall in the wrong hands, but with Doflamingo's cruelty shown first hand, they didn't hesitate. To not have their son, the only one still alive, killed, they decided to make him live, even if they would die. Gang wars. The group with more devil fruit users were the one who would win usually.

When Doflamingo's reign fell and his neighborhood was invaded, Law had hoped his freedom would be returned to him. How wrong he was. He was just taken to the facility. Their aren't many secure places for users. Under the security of the Whitebeards was your best shot at survival and freedom, but even there you could be taken, Luffy being the proof of it. Their was also other independent small organization who tried to protect themselves, but it was never your best shot in this battlefield.

Robin put back her cuff with a sad smile and walked out of the room to go eat her breakfast with the rest of her section. Law seemed more hopeful and woken up today. Last night's successful experiment must have cheered him up at least a little. Ace was subtly looking around in a curious manner like he always did since he came in the facility, trying his hardest to record every details of every room in his head. Luffy was smiling like always and Chopper too was in a somewhat cheerful mood. Galdino seemed proud of himself since the night before.

In the back, Kidd and Bonney were looking gloomy, as always. Kidd had recently turned 18 and he had only 2 years before he was changed section, while Bonney had 3 years left. It wasn't because they liked the C-Section that they were starting to get gloomy, it was just that it reminded them how much time they had already spent there and that they would probably never escape. Since they both came 6 years ago, no one had escaped. The one who tried were now part of the forgotten. The people who beg for mercy once the night comes.

Robin sighed. Another long day in the facility had just started.

After breakfast, it was the public room. It was a mystery to her how she and the others managed to not throw up. Law was looking at the nobles in pure disgust. He hated being seen as a circus freak or an entertainment tool. Kidd was even worst in that matter. Even if he was slightly happy to have his cuff removed, having people hit you and talk to you like you were trash while jumping around excitingly after witnessing their powers was something he didn't just hate, he despised it. They all felt stained and dirty by simply following the nobles' orders. they felt like throwing up.

Luffy wasn't wearing a smile, even if he was with his brother Ace, who kept an eye on him at all time. Even Chopper wasn't comfortable with the noble groping his fur. It was dehumanizing like always, but then again, they were monsters, according to those nobles.

Sitting back at his place for lunch, Robin looked at her plate tiredly. The real word to describe her feeling over the whole situation was tired. She wasn't mad or sad, she just wanted it to end. Have someone who would take them away. Ace somehow had connections with someone who could help, but she wouldn't get her hopes up.

"...C-Section in the training chambers of the second district..." Robin looked up. It had been a while since she had last been in the training chambers. Last time, she had been hurt and had to skip a few of the sessions before she finally managed to heal and be able to train her combat capabilities.

Entering her training chamber, Robin's cuff was removed. There was a line of dummies placed a few feet from the wall.

"Use any technique to damage the dummies with your devil fruit." a voice called from the intercom in the room.

Robin crossed her arms and from the first dummy sprouted a few pairs of arm. They tucked on it and twisted it in a way that would have been really painful if it was used on a human. The dummy being made cheap broke in half. The voice gulped and gave other orders for the other dummies. Robin consented to those orders and continued with the training.

In law's room it was less easy to get the teen to consent to the orders. He still followed through, but not without a growl and slight hesitation. Of course, his attitude earned him a few punches and kicks, but he didn't care. It wasn't like he wasn't used to it. Complying without a word was simply not him. He wasn't going to be a mindless puppet for those people, if you could call them that.

Chopper was currently on the verge of crying. He was having a really hard time. He didn't like the training sessions since he would get beaten up if he didn't do well and was currently suffering that consequence. It was hard, but he pushed back the tears and focused again. The kid was the youngest in the whole facility he believed but they never showed any mercy to monsters as they said.

Ace was doing everything he could to not put the whole room in fire. The voice in the intercom was trying to anger him on purpose. Bad mouthing him was one thing, but badmouthing his little brother was something else. If he didn't have any control, all of the furniture in the room would be burned or melted. The only way the door and walls would be intact was if it was reinforced with sea-stone and of course, it was.

Luffy was maybe the only one taking training seriously. Of course he made sure to not use his devil fruit well, but he did what he could to strengthen his muscles and reflexes. He wouldn't miss on any chance to get stronger. He got captured before since he had been to weak, he was going to change that. Ace had kept him out of the gang business. He had kept him out of it since he wasn't strong enough. He had been protected and when his protection was gone, he was taken.

* * *

 _"Luffy, hide! Our neighborhood is in danger! The one in charge of protecting it has been captured!"_

 _"Ace, stay where you are, you can't come for me now. If you are reckless you will be caught. How can you save me then?"_

 _"What are you talking about, I will come and get you!"_

 _"It's to late, they are here."_

 _"Hide!"_

 _"I can't. They know I am a user already and wont let me get away. You are at Whitebeard's HQ, you are safe and this is all that matters"_

 _"What about you?"_

 _"Ace, whatever happens, don't get caught."_

 _"Luffy-"_

 _The line cut. On the other side of the town, the little raven haired boy had taken a rock and crushed it on the phone before throwing it away. No way for those bastards to know about Ace now. He ran outside as far from his house as he could and turned to hide in a Halley. Soldiers were roaming the streets, making people go out of there house and testing them with sea-stone before moving on. The little continued to run. He tried the best he could to avoid streets with soldiers, but he was soon surrounded._

 _"You didn't really think you could get away did you?"_

 _The boy glanced at the man who had taken him by the back of his collar with a look who could make a grown up whimper. The man chuckled._

 _"You seem to have a strong spirit kid! It won't last long..." The man said as magma started dripping from the fingers._

* * *

Never again was he going to be weak.

Kidd too was fighting with force, but he wore a bored expression as he did. He had been used to fighting before entering the facility considering his neighborhood so ripping dummies to shreds was even less than boring. sure he could use his power, but what was the fun in shooting a few metallic objects at some cheap over-sized dolls? He actually missed the thrill of the dangerous life outside of those walls, where he was free to do anything he wanted if it was something he was capable of doing. The freedom that he had. Not knowing what tomorrow brings. Here, he was trapped. He knew exactly what would happen today, tomorrow and the day that came after. It was an endless routine. If you wanted to rebel, it was a direct ticket to the fourth district and even a strong-willed person would prefer obeying than the torture of the fourth district.

Bonney and him had grew up together, been captured together and ripped from their freedom together. At least they still had something that was the same as before.

Galdino was really careful during his training, if he showed to much of what he could do, the whole plan would be ruined. He made it look like he was trying his best and that was the only thing that counted.

Dinner time came. Everyone was exhausted, even the one who didn't train too much. Being yelled at was exhausting.

"We need strings for the candles." Luffy said really softly to the others.

"This seems really stupid for the thing that could stop us, but it is actually important" Ace said. If they didn't have a string in their candle, they couldn't have a fire and that meant no way of melting it into the lock.

Law grit his teeth. "I know a user who could provide us with strings." They all turned to his direction with a questioning expression while Luffy bit his lips. He knew about this particular user and his connection to Law and didn't like it at all.

"We can do it another way, we can make it ourselves with the cloth from our clothe." Luffy said with a worried expression.

"No, it would take too much time. We will ask tonight and be provided with some tomorrow night."

"Who is it?" Ace asked.

"Doflamingo."

* * *

The tall man was resting on his bed and let out a tired sigh. Everything had been taken from him so what else could he do? The worst thing was that it was taken away because of his own brother. The man grit his teeth before he heard a shuffling sound on his nightstand. He looked to his side and picked the piece of paper that was sitting there.

The man chuckled. "So you finally ask for my help Law?"

* * *

The next day, the user of the room P-22 sat at his place for breakfast. He smirked. Law's offer seemed interesting. He sparred a glance to the C-Section where he saw the children of the facility talk in a low tone. Of course from where he was, him and the guards couldn't dream of hearing whatever they were saying, not that they cared, but Doflamingo knew better than to underestimate those brats. The only people in the facility right now capable of changing things and maybe escape were the always underestimated children of the C-Section. Them, and maybe the H-Section if they were given the same schedule and security level as the other sections. It was almost impossible right now since the government were scared of them, and when you are scared of something, you do everything you can to stop it from doing anything, but no one was scared of the C-Section.

They were just kids. How wrong they were.

During his testing session, Doflamingo secretly made strings in his right palm and hid it in his shirt. Hiding it in the rim of his shirt wasn't difficult. It had been an even easier task to simply hide his strings from the guards, it was just strings. What would you possibly could do with strings? That was the question the guards asked themselves when they had to search the man for anything he would try to bring back. They wouldn't expect it wasn't for him, but for the C-Section's kids. They would never think those kids would want to make candles with Doflamingo's strings and Galdino's wax. They would never suspect them to light those candles and send them to everyone with Ace's and Law's abilities. even if they knew Law could send the candles, they would never think he could do it properly since he didn't know haki. Like Luffy did. They would never think everyone would use those candles to make key molds. They would never think the same four kids, Ace, Luffy, Law and Galdino, with Robin's help, were making wax keys for everyone in the facility. So when the night came, Law was provided with the strings. They had everything they needed to do the keys.

Finally.

All they needed now, was to make the candles and talk to Sabo for outside information.

* * *

 **So this is it! The fifth chapter is done.**

 **I hope you enjoyed it.**

 **Until next time!**


	6. Chapter 6: The Food

**In this chapter, I include some things related to Sanji's past that are kind of a spoiler if you aren't up to date with the manga. I wanted to wait for the Anime version to come out to add Sanji in this story, but we all know how long that takes and I bet there is going to be a filler thrown somewhere in there.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.**

* * *

It was the Ace's 5th day since his capture. After nearly a week, the fire user had started getting used to the daily routine. Waking up to a loud buzzing and irritating sound that always seemed to make you wake up in a bad mood, change his clothe. Two times a week, they would themselves before going to bed and the teen's hair was still slightly damp, with a few flicks of his flames, the water evaporated, leaving his hair completely dry.

The door opened to a new day in the facility. He walked out and looked at his little brother who smiled at him. Maybe this place seemed like hell, but it wasn't, since he still had his little ray of sunshine with him. Beside, they wouldn't be in there for too long.

* * *

 _"We will invade on the last day of your second week. It will give you enough time to find a way communicate with Marco and rile up everyone so they can make a ruckus from the inside. It will help us a lot if we attack from in and out of the facility at the same time. You got it son? Still sure you want to do it?"_

 _"As long as we save Luffy, I am all ears. Besides, I am the one who brought it up. I won't back out now."_

* * *

"This is a change." Ace chuckled a bit at the thought as he whispered to his little brother. "The food doesn't taste like medicine and dirt, it taste more like its burned." Luffy grinned.

"Here at the five-star service of the facility's cafeteria, we have a large variety of plates going from dirty socks to extremely sour lime and even dirt-medicine." Ace looked at Luffy with a surprised but amused expression.

"Dirty socks?"

"That is what it smelled like, you don't want to know what it tasted like and I hope we will never know what was really in that soup." The two brothers laughed a little. The others who were looking at them couldn't help but smile. They had become fond of Luffy quickly and after seeing what he had been through, it was really heart-warming to see the youngest Portgas laughing.

"...The C-Section will be at the public room this morning..." Luffy and Ace looked up to the intercom. They both hated the public room, but today, Sabo would be here and they would talk about the key. Since they had made Robin's, she could always sleep without her cuff and she seemed to have a lot more energy. If everyone in the facility could have a key, when the time comes, hell would break loose and everyone would be out.

 _Oustide_ _..._ Luffy thought. When was the last time he saw daylight? 310 days. He had counted. All the light they got in the facility was the irritating neon's on the ceiling.

When they were done with the burnt food, which they ate entirely, you always needed a lot of energy especially if you had training that day, they went back in their line and headed to the public room. The air smelled of disinfectant, like if it they were trying to get the smell of rotten people off of the nobles, but even with all their perfume, it was really easy to spot.

Only today, Sabo wasn't the only blond kid. Their weren't that many children coming to see them, but this time, five new faces caught Luffy's interest. Four boys and one girl all wearing a shirt with a different number on it, going from zero to four. But the one Luffy was the most interested in was the third one. he seemed a little outside of his group. They all looked alike, kind of like siblings, but the one with the number three on his shirt seemed to be somewhat the black sheep of the tiny group. Sabo entered right after them, heading straight for the Portgas brothers, Law and Robin.

"So?"

"We successfully made Robin's. We have a way to do one for everyone in the facility." Law said softly.

"Good. You shouldn't give them up to them before the right moment." Sabo replied sternly.

"And when would the right time be Sabo-san?"

"On my fourteenth day." They all turned to Ace questionably. "He will come here on that day. today is the fifth."

"I will rely this to my father."

"Perfect." Luffy said with a small grin. They stopped talking suddenly when the number 3 blond from earlier approached.

"Hi." He said sheepishly. They all frowned. Usually, nobles, especially the children, would show their superiority in every way possible. The way they talk, walk and even how they look at you. This one seemed a little lonely and was most likely quite shy.

"Hey, my name is Outlook Sabo, what is your name?" The top-hatted blond said in a friendly tone as he held up his hand for the other to shake it. The curly brow blond complied and smiled. "Vinsmoke Sanji." Sabo's eyes twitched slightly, but not enough for anyone to see it.

"Hi Sanji! I am Portgas Luffy, this is my brother Ace and my friends Torao and Robin." Luffy said as he pointed each one of them.

"The other number kids are your brothers and your sister right?" Law snarled. He didn't want to get in trouble for disrespect to a noble, but he couldn't just act nice like the youngest Portgas, even if the latter could be rude at times.

Sanji sighed. "They are, unfortunately." Robin raised an eyebrow at this.

"Unfortunately?" The blond looked at the teenage girl with fondness. "My beautiful milady, I am saddened that you will have to see them again."

"What are you talking about?" Ace stated suspiciously.

"We are staying with you today it seems."

"What?" They all asked shocked. No one ever stayed with them to see how the facility worked. "Why?"

"My siblings aren't as different with you guys than you think. The biggest difference is that your powers are given by fruits and not genetic mutation. My father wants to test his lab-rat-children's strength by making us fight devil fruit users as yourself."

"How did your father manage to convince them to let you train with us today?"

"Money, how else?" Sanji sighed as he rolled his eyes, until they landed on Sabo.

"You are a noble too right?" Sabo nodded.

"How come you aren't obnoxious and have a superiority and I-want-to-be-the-center-of-the-universe complex like the rest of the nobles?"

Sabo chuckled. "How come you aren't an asshole like those brothers of yours?" They looked behind themselves just in time to see two of Sanji's blond brothers kick one of the fruit users in the stomach.

"Point taken. Now, we are going to be in here all day, is there some things I should know?"

"Well, You are a noble, they shouldn't punish you for doing whatever you want, but the food tastes bad and people here hates nobles. Of course, I am not talking about the scientists and other staff members, they would lick the nobles shoes if they asked, but the other users in the facility, us included, all had a bad first impression of the nobles." Law said slowly. Luffy went pale. Robin looked away and Ace pulled his little brother in a comforting embrace. Sabo's eyes narrowed. Sanji simply looked at the rest of the room.

"I perfectly understand why."

"Sanji." A voice ringed in the room. The latter looked up to see his father and siblings walking his way.

"Who are they?" asked the blond number 2.

"Just other freaks, I was asking about their powers." Sanji said in an attempt to sound stuck-up.

"You don't get friendly with your opponent. They gave me a list of everyone in this section. Now, I decided you will be fighting the subject C-05. Yonji is going to fight the subject C-04, Niji the subject C-06, Ichiji will be against the subject C-12 and Reiju against the subject C-07. Come now."

 **C-05: Luffy, C-04: Law, C-06: Ace, C-12: Kidd and C-07: Robin. In test chambers, room numbers and subject numbers, they always have the same.**

The five blond returned to their father while Sanji gave them a smile as he left. Sabo waved and left a little while after.

Then, it was time to eat lunch. Like always, the food was barely eatable. At a table a little farther away, The five blonds with their father were sitting down on comfortable chairs and eating a full dish. The father was speaking with a scientist in charge of the training for the C-Section and Sanji was eyeing The fruit users plate with disgust. The young blond stood up and went to his father.

"Your information will be falsified." The young boy said in a bored tone.

"What are you saying Sanji?" His father replied dryly.

"My f- The subjects aren't eating well enough, they wont be at their full strength. If we fight them, the results will be falsified."

Sanji's father growled and looked at the scientist, who sweat-dropped.

"Give your subject proper food."

"But we don't have the time t-to-"

"Make time or I will stop the funding."

"I can help, it will go faster." Sanji took off to the kitchen before the intimidating noble could stop him.

The cooks were surprised to see the boy coming in the kitchen and started cooking like he owned the place, but they didn't stop him, as the scientist who was with his father explained. The cooks stared, amazed and some even took notes. It was clear to them that this brat was in his element as he flawlessly made the meals for every section without any help.

It didn't take long for everyone to be served. All the users eyed their plate for a few seconds in complete silence. Slowly, they took their fork and went to take the first bite.

They were all left speech less. The ones who had been in the facility the longest, no matter if they were strong or not, actually cried softly. It was the most heavenly meal they had eaten in years and, probably, in their whole life. Sanji smirked as he saw everyone's grateful expression and happiness.

The whole cafeteria seemed more alive than it had ever been even more so than when Luffy had come for the first time and that had been a record breaker too. He had gone through punishment for it too, but it had been worth it. They all took off to their respective afternoon 'activities' and the C-Section was followed by the Vinsmoke family. They all went to their training room, but some of them were paired with one of the brothers or the sister.

Robin had a hard time. Reiju, the girl of the group of blonds, was a good fighter. She was skilled and quick and gave little to no opening to be grabbed. She did manage to throw a few punches, but ended up beaten in the end. The blond girl was about to offer a hand to help her stand up when his dad shouted from the intercom.

"REIJU! That is enough, come back now!" The girl stiffly withdrawn her hand and walked back to the door without giving a glance back at the dark-haired girl who watched her with a thoughtful expression.

Law started by making a room a little bigger than usual. He used it to throw rocks and other stuff in the room at the boy named Yonji, but without a blade, their wasn't that much he could do. He was able to fight back a little, but those genetically mutated kids were scary. When he received a heavy hit to the stomach, the teen actually had his air sucked out of him and Yonji took that moment to kick hit him back again, nearly making him fall unconscious. As Law was slowly getting back up, Yonji exited the room with a smirk.

Kidd was going up against Ichiji. He was, apparently, the best between the five the room they were currently fighting, there was a bunch of metallic objects lying around. The red-head used them to fight as he controlled them. Ichiji was in fact really fast and could pull heavy punches. After a few minutes, the two had spilled blood and were panting heavily. The two of them were really big sore losers. It took them a while, but eventually, the two of them went down.

Ace was looking straight into Niji's eyes. He knew that if he couldn't control haki, there was no way he could harm him, but at the same time, he didn't want to show any of his control over his devil fruit to the scientist. It was better for him if he wasn't cuffed before the invasion of the facility. The two of them took fighting stances. At first, the fire user got surprised by Niji's strength. The puny noble could fight. But then, it was Niji who got surprised when Ace started putting his fists on fire. Once in a while, his punches and kicks would leave burn marks. With a last kick in the stomach, the noble went down and Ace sat back with a smirk.

Luffy was facing Sanji. They haven't known each other for a while, but neither of them wanted to hurt the other. They started fighting, but it was more of a friendly training than an actual battle. On the other side, the scientist in charge and the noble father, Vinsmoke Judge, started growling in anger

"Sanji! You have to fight seriously! You know what will happen if you don't!"

"Portgas! If you don't fight properly, its punishment for you! Express ticket to the fourth district!"

Sanji bit his lips and looked up at Luffy. The kid was extremely pale, like he had just witnessed someone decapitating another. He gulped and both of them took a serious fighting stance. Only in their eyes you could still see a glimpse of sorrow. Like they were apologizing in advance. Both of them knew extremely well that their consequence for not fighting and probably the one for their adversary was far worse than how they would look like after the fight.

Luffy pulled his arm back and went for a straight punch from a distance. Sanji stopped his fist with his foot and tried to bring him down, but Luffy rocketed himself at him and knocked him out of balance. They both jumped back up immediately. The fight continued until both of them started spitting blood. Of course, Luffy was made of rubber, but somehow, Sanji was able to hit him and make damage.

The thing here was knowing if he was able to use haki or if it was because of the genetic mutation that he could land such a hit. In battle, Luffy observed that Sanji would only use kicks, never using his hand. The latter jumped up and tried to land a kick right on top of his head, but Luffy blocked it with both arms. With the pressure of the hit, Luffy's leg seemed like they had squashed under him, but, after a few seconds, all his skin turned pinkish and steam came from it. Sanji jumped back, confused and Luffy stared at his hands before he tighten them into fists.

"What is that?" Sanji asked as he readied himself again.

"Don't know." Luffy said as he jumped forward with both fist thrown backward, preparing a bazooka attack. Sanji's eyes widened. Luffy was a lot faster than a second ago.

As Sanji received the hit, he lost his balance and tumbled back for a few seconds. Luffy's skin turned back to normal, but he was panting heavily and went down on his knees. Blood started rushing from all his cuts and bruises a bit faster than before. Both of the were now struggling to get back up.

 _"Sanji! You have to fight seriously! You know what will happen if you don't!"_

 _"Portgas! If you don't fight properly, its punishment for you! Express ticket to the fourth district!"_

The voice rang in their head tauntingly. They stood back up and looked at each other in the eyes, still panting heavily. Their throat felt like it was on fire. Luffy's blood was boiling and Sanji was afraid he had a broken rib.

Even after all of this, they started walking toward each other slowly. The accelerated and accelerated until they were both running. Both of them landed a last kick or punch with a yell before falling back. Luffy's vision turned red. He had popped a blood vessel near his eyes and from the outside, it seemed as if he was crying blood. Sanji's vision blurred. He couldn't see straight and felt extremely light-headed. They both fell completely unconscious after what seemed like an eternity, but was actually just a few seconds.

After this, the Vinsmoke went back to their house with private hospital care and the C-Section kids were sitting in the corridor. Ace was actually clutching to his little brother, attempting to stop the bleeding. Law was on it too, trying to use his devil fruit the best he could to make the little boy better. It took ten minutes for the scientist to come out and bring them to the infirmary, and, even if he was injured himself, Ace was the one carrying his brother since it would put blood on those bastards white sarrau (don't know how to write this sorry).

When they arrived to the medical wing, It was the RZ-Section who was passing tests, which meant they were a little understaffed for all the injured of the C-Section. The Zoans were all hurriedly taken out of the rooms and Luffy, Law and Robin were taken in first. Kidd and Ace sat against the wall, they were still okay to not need immediate care, but it still hurt as hell. The RZ-Section and the rest of the C-Section were all sitting down against the wall since all the nurse and scientists were trying to attend Law or Robin's injuries or simply tried to make Luffy breathe properly. Only one guard remained and he didn't really care at the moment for the discipline of the users. So he let them talk and sit down.

"What happened? All we know is kids got pretty badly hurt during training, yoi." Marco said as he sat next to the worrying raven haired teen with blood all over his clothe.

"You remember the noble who came by during lunch?" Marco nodded.

"Well, he wanted t-to see if his kids could fight against fruit users, since they are genetically modified or something. W-we, were fighting against them one at a time and watched how the other's fights would turn up. I won my fight, but the others weren't as lucky. Kidd was fighting the strongest I think and they got tied, Law and Robin lost and got pretty injured and Luffy..." Marco clenched his fists seeing Ace's expression.

Before his capture, he had met him a few times and had come to really like the young teen. He was always really protective of his little brother, he would never let his ray of sunshine near any of the gang wars and ugly part of the world. He never let him come to HQ or anywhere near since it got attacked sometimes. He had only seen the little boy in a photography, but, when he saw the little boy at the facility for the first time, he had hated himself so much. He had been so angry with himself for getting captured. It didn't really hit him at first that it mattered. Before joining Whitebeard, no one counted on him, so when he got captured, it was bad, but not too much since he was the only one getting hurt.

He was so wrong.

Now, Ace's little brother was heavily injured. All because he had been captured. He could endure torture. No problem. He had been doing this almost every day for the last eleven months, but the guilt and pain coming from this situation was truly unbearable.

Ace's pupil were unfocused and twitched from side to side frantically. His hands were shaking and tears were starting to form in his eyes.

"He fought Sanji, the only one of them who was somehow friendly." This got Marco confused.

"If he was nice, how come Luffy is in that state, yoi?"

"They weren't fighting seriously at first, but then they were both threatened with punishment if they didn't fight seriously." Marco gulped. He didn't even know if the state Luffy was in right now was less or worse than punishment for a kid. Physical pain was easy to go by after getting used to it, but some of the mental torture methods or punishments could break a weak-willed person's mind, even kill him.

"I can imagine the rest, you don't have to continue, yoi." Ace had his arm crossed in a terrible attempt to hide his face. He was crying heavily. _Luffy.._

* * *

 _Ace ran across the streets until he finally saw his house. "Wait Ace! Don't go to fast! We know the soldiers aren't here anymore but you can't be too careful!"_

 _"Just run faster Thatch! I haven't seen my little brother in two weeks and last time I talked to him was a week ago!" Thatch bit his lips. The preteen still didn't want to believe his brother's capture was a possibility. Luffy was good at hiding, he could mostly repress his aura, he could run fast._

 _The latter jumped on the porch. One the front Lawn near the garbage bin was a phone, completely crushed and destroyed. "Must have destroyed it so they couldn't track my call." Thatch was catching up and stood at the door step with Ace. The door had been opened by force, the evidence being the melted lock and door handle. This was one of the scientists of the facility._

 _Ace threw the door open and started yelling his little brothers name. He didn't even care for the poor state of the house and furniture. The fire user ran to their bedrooms. The room had been thrown upside down, even worse than the rest of the house. Ace fell to his knees. On Luffy's bed laid a very lonely looking straw-hat. The raven haired boy took it with shaky hands and brought it to his chest, careful not to damage it._

 _"LUFFY!"_

* * *

When dinner time came, Luffy was still in the medical wing, so no one could pick up the senders. The word spread and soon, everyone knew Luffy, the subject C-05 hadn't woken up yet. It didn't take too much time for anyone to get that their wasn't going to be any message today, everyone in the C-Section were gloomy and some were crying. They had all seen Luffy after a tough punishment session, but he would wake up. He always woke up. Now, Makino and Roscinante were still at his side trying to lower his fever and do anything she could to reduce the pain. They had made the room isolated to exterior sound since they had to concentrate on the small raven haired boy and if the others could hear the occasional ear-splitting screams, everyone would probably panic.

Basically, lunch and dinner had been the most quiet meals they ever had, but for two completely opposite reasons. Nobody could truly enjoy the meal in the C-Section. The cooks were trying to make better meals from the notes they had taken of Sanji's cooking, and, even if it wasn't as amazing as his, it was good. Nobody even had the heart of scolding the C-Section since they all had heard Luffy's scream.

Sanji had manage to beat him down a lot, but what had hurt the most was when he used the blood rush technique, his body wasn't used to the new feeling. His blood was literally boiling He had popped a few blood vessel and even had probably managed to have interior burns. The pain was so unbearable, Luffy couldn't even fall completely unconscious without having a chance he would die. He had to push through. He couldn't move, think, see or hear anything, all his senses were covered by the pain felt in his whole body. He knew there was two good people trying to save his life, but he couldn't figure out who it was. he was going to survive this trial.

* * *

 **Hey so this chapter is done!**

 **In gear second, I always was curious why Luffy didn't get internal burns since his blood is boiling so here. If he learns to control it, it won't make as much damage to his body.**

 **I would like to hear your thoughts about this fic, since the beginning, I don't get much of your comments. Except for Zoewinter1. I am always happy to read your reviews!**

 **Until next time!**


	7. Chapter 7: Slow burn

**Disclaimer: I don't have ownership over One Piece.**

* * *

Even after the events of this very day, the little raven-haired group, minus Luffy, were assembled in Law's room.

"Well, what do we do?"

"We can't let this stop us, we have a deadline."

"But Luffy-"

"Wants us to go on and will be pleased to see we finished making the candles when he will wake up."

"Do you think he will be alright?"

"Of course, it's Luffy-ya. He wont die now. He will probably wake up tomorrow. He will be Okay Ace-ya, Luffy-ya's been through a lot and is still alive. Now he has a bigger reason to fight and stay alive, so he will."

Galdino glanced at the oldest Portgas. He was staring at the floor with a dead expression. "Okay. Let's make those candles." Ace said in a determined manner.

It didn't take to long. With Galdino's ability and Doflamingo's strings, they had finally finished making the candles and Robin had been writing instructions they would send with it to tell people what they were for with her many arms. Soon, everyone was done.

"I am kind of tired. Can we send them and make the molds tomorrow?" The wax-user said as he sat down. Everyone nodded and were sent back to their room after they had helped Law hide the candles and notes under a broken tile on the floor.

Everyone went back to sleep, or tried at least. Ace was in his bed staring at the ceiling, worrying about his little brother. He tried using observation haki to see how he was, but he wasn't as good as Luffy with it so it was all fruitless.

Stirring from side to side, none of his position in his bed seemed comfortable. He had never manage to fall asleep in the past when he would worry about something, especially the grinning boy who would always be at his side since the day they met.

He sat up and started walking in his room from side to side.

 _"Ace, don't worry, if you don't sleep, maybe you wont be well enough to see him when he does wake up! Besides, your little brother only has a small cold, a good nights rest and he'll be chasing you again."_

"Okay..." He responded subconsciously as he walked back to his bed to finally fall asleep. Luffy was going to be fine.

* * *

Day 6. Ace sat up on his bed, clutching his ears to try to stop the loud sound of the waking alarm. He changed with a grim His bloodied clothe had been given to a nurse before going to bed the night before and he slept in another set of clothe.

When the door opened, he sadly went out, knowing Luffy wasn't going to be waiting for him and eating with him this morning.

They walked in the cafeteria and ate an almost-good breakfast before they heard the intercom tell every section where they were assigned to. "Subject C-06 will be sent to the medical wing right away. Subject C-05 has woken up. They will join in the C-Section's duty later. The rest will be assigned the public room." Everyone seemed revived from their gloomy appearance in the C-Section and even members of other sections let out a relieved breath.

A guard stood behind the eldest Portgas and took him to the medical wing as everyone was currently eating. They entered Luffy's room and Ace smiled. His little brother had woken up. even if he had a pained expression and didn't move much, he was smiling and giggling with Makino.

"Luffy!" The boy turned around to see his big brother rushing to his side.

"Hey..." The boy answered weakly.

"Are you okay?" Ace said softly as he glanced slightly at his side to Makino.

"He is going to be alright. During the fight, he made his blood run faster in his system, making him momentarily faster and stronger, but his blood started to boil from the heat created and it all drained his energy much faster." The dark green haired woman said in a comforting voice as she went back to the boy in the bed

"I tech-nically knocked my-self out." Luffy said with some difficulties. The elder brother bonked him lightly on the head. "Don't scare us like that again."

"You were all worried? I feel b-ad now... Shishishi..." The young boy said with a grin.

"Luffy is going to be back on his feet soon. He will be coming back with you to the public room." The nurse said with a noticeably worried tone. It was clear she was against the idea of Luffy leaving so soon, but the woman didn't have a say so in the matter.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Ace said, remembering how nobles treated the 'trash'.

"Since he can walk and talk, the scientists won't keep him in here sorry. Besides, he has his big brother to take care of him does he?" The three of them chuckled. Makino helped the boy stand back up, wincing as he did, and watched nervously as they left with a guard. _Luffy will be fine._

* * *

Walking through the corridors, Luffy leaned against Ace to walk. Every move he made hurt, be he didn't stop. He wanted to tell everyone he was okay. Show them he was okay. Prove himself he was okay. Maybe if he could convince himself, the pain would go away. The big metal door of the public room was opened and they walked through. Turning to greet them, all worried faces, Sabo's, Law's, Robin's, Chopper's, Galdino's, all softened when the two brothers walked through the door.

"They told me what happened, Are you alright Luffy?" The blond said. The boy weakly nodded as he detached himself from Ace, moving on his own.

The noble gained back a really angered expression. "I am going to kick that Vinsmoke ass if I ever see him-"

"Don't." Luffy cut and grinned sheepishly. "I only overexerted myself that is all." The boy walked to a near cube and sat.

"Luffy-san, you looked pretty bad, are you sure you are alright?" The boy nodded again but didn't say a word, his throat still felt like it was on fire.

They started talking in a low voice again, discussing the candles and keys without any guard noticing. Luffy gave a silent alert and Sabo's personality switched so fast Ace thought he wasn't the same person. Some other noble kids had approached and the blond was making himself look just like them. Ace looked really intrigued at how easily the blond boy could put on the act. He started punching and hitting all of them, at the exception of Luffy. All his attacks, from the outside seemed hurtful, but he didn't really hurt them. He didn't even pull his punches to be able to make any damage.

Still, it was disturbing. See the blond fake-noble pass from kind and worried big brother to rotten bastard was definitely something odd.

* * *

"Just TALK!"

"I won't yoi."

"WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY!?"

"Do you really need to ask, yoi."

"Then this time it is going to be an even bigger dose!" Akainu said as he took a syringe from his 'tool box'. He pushed it into the phoenix's arm and made the greenish-purple liquid enter his veins. The commander grunted and closed his eyes shut. He straightened up and started trashing around, panting as old forgotten memories filled his mind and tried to mix and break it apart.

 _"Marco!"_

 _"Marco-kun!"_

 _"Marco-san!_

 _"Phoenix-guy!"_

 _"Pineapple-head!"_

 _"My son..."_

 _"Come with us..."_

 _"You are a monster..."_

 _"You burned her..."_

 _"We need your help, please..."_

 _"Hey, Marco, this is my little brother, his name is Luffy..."_

 _"You should just die already!"_

 _"I trusted you! Why?"_

 _"We trust you Marco."_

 _"You are a nuisance. Look what you did!"_

 _A woman walked to him with a knife in her hands. She was crying. "Why can't you just die!" She stabbed him in the heart and pulled back the weapon. When the phoenix's fire healed the wound, she continued and stabbed him repetitively. "Die!_ _Die!_ _Die!_ _Die!_ _Die!_ _Die!_ _Die!_ _Die!_ _Die!_ _Die!_ _Die!_ _Die!_ _Die!" The woman stood back up and dropped the knife. The young boy stood back up, shirt all bloodied but the wound was already healing._

 _"I don't want to see you ever again."_

* * *

Sabo was still putting on the act and the other kids started getting on Law's nerve. Luffy was breathing roughly, but still tried to not make himself noticeable. They had all wanted to see Luffy as soon as possible, but now, Law would have wanted to not see him at all. If they wouldn't, than Luffy would still be healing in the medical wing, not barely be able to breathe in this suffocating place called the Public room. It was bad for his treatment and healing process, he knew. Roscinante and Makino had been taking care of the little Portgas, they would have never accepted this unless they didn't have a say so in this situation. Of course, the scientists in charge had cut short Luffy's vacation, and, if he had to guess, Akainu had pulled the strings. The bastard always hated Luffy for an unknown reason. Well, he hated everyone pretty much, but his hate for the young raven was worse.

"Hey, what are you doing sitting down you trash? Think we didn't see you there?" A noble named Shelly with an innocent smile but evil glint in his eyes.

"Hey, I'm bored. Entertain me." said the second.

Luffy tried to stand but hissed as he did so as his pain re-surged from the sudden movement.

"What the hell are you doing hissing at me!" Shelly said as she kicked the boy in the stomach. He fell to the floor and the two nobles walked away smirking.

"Luffy!" Ace ran at his immobile brother's form. Law looked at the two and caught that the boy's hand had tightened around his stomach.

"Don't make him talk or move to much, he will get hurt even more." The latter stood while he growled and massaged his neck. "I am okay."

 _I am fine._

The next thing they knew, they were sitting at their table and eating lunch. "The food is a lot better than before!" The energetic, but still injured boy said between two bites.

"Guess we wont be eating dirt-medicine and dirty socks again" Ace said, falsely pouting.

"Yeah, guess we will miss those." Law said, making them all snort.

"It is truly great to know you are fine Luffy-san." Robin said with a grin.

"Luffy! You were really cool when you fought! Even after all of this, you are still walking and talking after not that much time, you are so cool!" Chopper said in an excited tone.

"Thanks guys." Luffy gave a small smile.

A ear-splitting scream echoed through the cafeteria, but it wasn't from the cafeteria. Everyone clutched their ears until it stopped completely in less than a second.

"What was that?" Ace said frantically.

"My guess would be the fourth district, Ace-san." Robin said in a low voice.

Chopper shuddered. The little reindeer had been there for a long time already. He had been there, seen it and even felt it. Everything else becomes a blur.

"What is happening to him?" The eldest Portgas said, worried.

"Well, Ace-ya, I wouldn't say punishment since it isn't the first time it happens. The phoenix has been in the fourth district a lot, I would say they need information."

"You're saying it's torture." The boy paled with the meaning of his own words.

"After everything you have seen in this facility, do you really think torture is far-fetched?" Chopper said in a calm tone. The boy was talking normally, but his whole body language said exactly the opposite. He was shaking and his eyes weren't focused on anything.

"Ace." The boy turned to face his little brother. The boy looked like he was about to cry, but kept it in. "It hurts." He said slowly. Everyone watched as the Portgas brother cuddled against each other without putting too much pressure on the boy's skin. Guards approached and separated them roughly, making Luffy wince in pain. Every user from any section who had heard Luffy's silent cry glared daggers at the man before resuming their meal with an angered expression.

Luffy giggled. "It's okay. At least I am not left all alone in a room of the medical wing." Robin looked up to the boy with a soft smile. Since he came, they had all knew no fate was worse for him than being alone, and they would never let that happen without trying to do something about it.

* * *

After lunch, the C-Section went to the medical wing. It was a last-minute change in the usual schedule, but after what happened the day before, a few of them needed some check-ups.

As always, the two Portgas brothers entered their shared room and were greeted by Makino. The woman smiled and immediately took the youngest in her arms to get him on the bed to do his tests. Ace sat on the chair right next to it, playing with a small flare of fire on his pointer finger and Luffy was staring at it with interest. Makino chuckled at the brothers' antics. They were acting more and more like they used to do when they were younger and carefree, before they ate their fruit.

"Luffy, does it hurt more, less or equally than this morning?" Makino said softly as she took his temperature.

"Less, I feel alright but moving around itches a bit." Ace smiled sadly. His little brother had always been tougher than he looked. It was probably still hurting like hell, but he would never say it. Never show weakness in a world were you fend for yourself, have someone stronger to protect you or die.

* * *

Marco gripped the chair he was strapped to. His eyes were tightly closed and his brain felt like it was pouncing in his head.

"Enjoying this?" Akainu said slowly as he watched the man's expression.

 _"If you wouldn't have been so weak, the little boy wouldn't be suffering. The teen, Ace, would still be under Whitebeard's protection."_

 _"Marco?"_

 _"If you would have been less of a pain to this world, Your family would still be alive!"_

 _"You burned her..."_

 _"Just die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!"_

 _"Marco?"_

 _He dropped the knife to the floor and fell to his knees. A little girl entered the room with a blue bird plush toy in her hand. "Marco? Why is daddy sleeping on the floor?"_

"Now talk or it will get worse."

"I won't. It's not too bad, It's like watching a movie, yoi." He lied. The experience hurt his head like hell and every blow or hit he had taken in the memories felt 10 times worse than it had been in reality.

* * *

Like usual, the users all went back to the cafeteria and ate. Luffy started taking the senders again and everyone seemed to have cheered up a little more since the boy was back. He hadn't been missing long but his absence had been really obvious. Marco was again missing dinner, so Ace worried a little, but he knew the commander was strong and wouldn't let himself be weakened because of starvation.

When they were done, the C-Section walked back to their rooms. The raven-haired group all reunited themselves again in Law's room. Luffy sat on the bed and the others went to get every candles they had made. They attached a note to every candle and Ace lit all of them before Law sent the candles to every person in the facility.

* * *

Marco was sitting on his bed and watched the rock on his night stand. He knew the kids were up to something, but he didn't know exactly what. The commander thought back to everything he went through during his torture sessions during the day and sighed. All his memories he had buried a long time ago, all those things of his past that he wanted to forget were lifted back to the surface. All the pain he suffered when he was young, he had to live through it again. There was a lot of mental torture methods, but this one was certainly on his top 3 of the ones who hurt the most. When the rock was replaced by a candle, the commander frowned.

 _1\. Melt the wax into the lock of your cuffs._

 _2\. Let it dry._

 _3\. Get the mold out of your cuff._

 _4\. Clean everything, it's better if there isn't any wax on your floor or elsewhere in your room._

 _At 11:15, we want all the molds on your night stands. We will make a solid key from those molds._

"Those kids... They really are something else... They have everything planned, yoi. I don't know how they got their hands on any of those things, yoi." He chuckled as he started melting the wax into the lock. It took a while but thankfully, it was the same key for the pair of cuffs.

After he was done making the mold, Marco watched as his mold was replaced by a rock. He cleaned what had dripped on the floor and chuckled again. The people the scientists were the least aware of were the one who had the biggest impact.

* * *

 **So the seventh chapter is done! By the way, I am really happy with your positive responses to this story, it always makes my day to see your reviews!**

 **Until next time!**


	8. Chapter 8: About freedom

**Disclaimer: I do not own one piece.**

* * *

It was the seventh day since the fire user Portgas Ace had arrived in the facility, making them come closer and closer to the faithful day when they would all be free. When Law woke up that morning, he smirked. Last night, with Luffy's help, they had manage to collect all the molds and identify them, they were all hidden in the room and all of the molds had a tag on it with the a subject number and a name. once again, the onyx team (Luffy had started calling themselves like that since they all had onyx black hair) had taken a step towards freedom that none of the staff in the facility knew they were even capable of taking.

Doing so was oddly satisfying, but they didn't want to let it go to their heads. Luffy was still stirring in pain as he ate his breakfast, which he strongly denied, Robin still had to wear the cuffs during the day, Chopper didn't even remember what the sky looked like, Law was always tired because of his regular use of his ability when he was supposed to sleep, Ace seemed tense and worried every time he glanced at his baby brother, Marco, the phoenix of the RZ-Section, was still getting tortured almost every day, Galdino was still less than confident over his own capabilities (He was getting really affected by the nobles trash-talk towards them). The point here was, everyone felt so far from freedom, it was almost unbelievable that in a week, maybe, they would all be free of this hellish prison.

Ace had been surprised at first. With everything happening in the facility, with the keys, They had an even higher chance of escaping than he had ever dreamed of. Even without Whitebeard's help, it would have been hard, but possible. The thing here was, what were they all going to do with this freedom? What was going to happen after everyone would be out?

Law knew all too well that it wasn't going to be pretty for him when he would be out. He was going to be back in another hell hole that he hadn't missed at all. With the deal he had made with the bastard, he couldn't really escape it. It wasn't his style to self-sacrifice really, but after what Luffy had been through for him, he would not complain.

But everyone else didn't really know. Ace was going to have Luffy join the Whitebeard gang for better protection, but outside of those two and Marco who was going to go back to his post as first commander, pretty much everybody in the facility had no idea what to do with their freedom. Some had the simple thought beat out of them with torture, some never knew what freedom was, so their weren't many of them who had plans for the future when they would be outside.

If they were out without a plan, it was only a matter of time before they were captured again or even worse, before they were killed.

In this morning of Ace's 7th day in the facility, those were the thoughts that plagued the minds of the Onyx team and a lot of people in the facility. What would you do if you could have freedom? What was freedom?

* * *

Before any of them could answer those questions, the intercom announced everyone was assigned to the community room today. This was an event that happened every week on Sunday, well, almost every week. Because of the incident of the fourth district from last week, the community room had been canceled. Most of the P-Section still had nightmares, they had been assigned to the clean up of the fourth district and those with the most sensitive hearts had passed out or vomited at the sight of all the blood and the shape the body had been left after the torture.

The community room's purpose was to let user open up to each other. Some had grown up together in the C-Section, only to be separated when they turned old enough to go in one of the other sections. Some others were family in two different section, if Ace and Luffy would stay until they were both 20, the boys would only be able to see each other on those special occasions, once a week or sometime even less. The H-Section would be there too, which was one of the rare occasions to get to know them, but there was always a guard really close to them.

The room was really big, It was big enough to contain over a hundred users and there were a lot of rules. No running, You couldn't get into physical contact with anyone outside your section, you had to keep an arm length distance between you and any one from another section, you had to wear the community room clothe, It was a set of clothe exactly like the ones before, but had a color, Luffy had told Ace about it and he knew those clothe were meant to be put on only on Sundays and other rules.

The different colors were there for the guards, it was easier and faster for them to see what section you were. Usually, they didn't have any close contact with other sections so the white clothe fit perfectly. In Akainu's words, If they were always in colorful outfits, the psychological impact of colors on the brain could make them more positive and hopeful and they had higher chance of trying to escape. If it was only one dull color all the time, it was easier to feel depressed and not having the energy to try escaping. Of course, most of the scientists had agreed, saying what the torturer had said sounded smart and plausible.

So today, after eating breakfast, everyone returned to their dorm to change into their community room clothe. The C-Section was in light blue, P-Section in yellow, L-Section in orange, Z-Section in light green, RZ-Section in light purple and H-Section in black. Everyone was in light colors, so the H-Section were really noticeable from afar.

Luffy and Ace walked in the large room, Ace clutching to his little brother really protectively. There were a ton of people he didn't know anything about in this room, he wasn't going to let his injured brother run off like that. A guard was about to separate them again, but another one stopped him, explaining the situation with the memory of the youngest's scream still fresh in his mind. Besides, those two were kids and one of them was injured, what could they possibly do?

As Ace scanned the area, his eyes landed on a familiar pineapple shaped hair and discretely walked to him. When the Phoenix came into view, the two Portgas brothers grinned and waved.

"Hey how are you two doing, yoi?" He said with a fake smile. Unlike Ace, Luffy saw immediately the expression was forced, since he had too mastered the fake smile technique over the months he passed in the facility. The young boy frowned and looked at the Zoan user with an interrogative glare.

"We are well, mostly anyway. How about you?" The Phoenix sat down an arm length away from against the wall and the two bothers did the same. They weren't facing each other and from far away, Luffy and Ace looked like they were talking to each other and Marco seemed to be talking to a guy named Drake, he had an Ancient Zoan fruit that gave him the ability to transform into a specific specie of dinosaur.

"I am okay." Luffy frowned even more.

"Liar."

Ace was surprised when Marco sighed, dropping his smile only to gain a bored look on his face.

"What did they make you see this time? Fake or real?" Ace raised an eyebrow at this, he didn't really know what the question intended.

"Real and we both know this is the worst, yoi. Fake memories only works if the person starts believing it is his truly, so it doesn't really affect me as much, yoi." The purple man said.

"Last time they did that to me was really painful. I think you are really starting to piss Akainu off, he is more violent than before."

"Well, sorry about that if you had to deal with him after he tried to get through me, he still doesn't understand I wont say anything, yoi."

"What are you both talking about?" Ace asked. He had a good idea of the subject, but since he had never been summoned to the fourth district, he had only little knowledge on the subject.

"A form of mental torture they use to break us down." Luffy said boldly before continuing. "It's still better than having you spill the beans."

Drake leaned toward Marco and whispered. "Who are those brats? Why are you always hanging around the brats in the facility when ever you can?"

The phoenix smirked. "Who are the people who delivers the messages every-night, yoi? Who are the one who invented the delivery system in the first place, yoi?"

"Dunno."

"The kids, yoi."

"You're lying."

"Who else can use their devil fruit? Are you really that stupid, yoi? It was always obvious the kids were behind it. And all those crazy things that happened all began with Luffy's arrival in the facility." The Prehistorical Zoan's eyes widened. He had never really connected the dots and he didn't think that many people did. It was obvious if you thought about it, but since they started to send and receive messages every night, most of them didn't really question it. They knew it wasn't the scientists since they had made tests and everything to see if it was okay to put secret information in those messages and it passed, but they never really thought of the possibility that the kids could do something like that.

The messaging system was kind of complicated for the people who managed it, Drake had guessed, and it was the brats who took care of it. Thinking back, the way they collected the names of the senders, at least one kid had to know observation haki.

Drake whispered even lower. "Who's the H?" _Who is the haki user?_

"Don't know, yoi." He said as he tensed slightly, but wasn't noticed by the dinosaur Zoan. Drake thought back to the night before.

"Last night-"

"Always the kids, yoi." Jake's eyes widened even more. The only reason why he would maybe one day have his freedom back was because of the group of children. He chuckled. "No wonder you are interested in them."

"Marco, you know you don't have to feel bad." Luffy said with a soft wince as he struggled to stand, before abandoning the idea.

"What are you talking about, yoi?" He said in his usual bored tone, but Luffy and Ace both felt his slight tension. "It's not your fault we are here." Ace finished.

"Soon, everything will be okay."Luffy said softly as he fell asleep in Ace's arm. He didn't get much sleep the night before because of all the work he had done with Law and the pain that had kept him awake.

Ace pulled his brother closer in a comforting embrace.

"Is the kid still in pain, yoi?" Ace chuckled. "Yes, but too proud to admit it. I really wonder where he got that from..." The eldest Portgas brother in a loving and innocent tone.

"Does he seem like he is getting any better, yoi?" Ace cringed.

"How should I know? He doesn't really open up, even if he doesn't look like the type to be secretive."

"I know what that's like, yoi..." Marco said as he looked away.

When Luffy woke up half an hour later, Marco and Drake had left to talk with some other section people. A man dressed in black sat a few feet away from them. A guard was following the man and positioned himself near the man.

"Hey mister Rayleigh ossan!" Luffy said as he waved at the man. Ace looked at his side and looked over the old man who had caught his little brother's interest. The man wore round glasses and had shoulder length white hair and a beard, which was is arranged embattled across his lower jaw.

"How are you Luffy? Feeling better?" The little boy sat up with a grin.

"Yes I am! Shishishi... Ace! The Ossan has a weird power so he can know when people are hurt! It's a mystery power!" Ace frowned a little, not because he didn't believe in the man's power, but rather because he knew Luffy could use it too. As he was about to voice his thoughts, he quickly stopped as he saw Luffy's and Rayleigh expression that seemed to say something around the lines of _Play along_ or _Shut it, if not, we are dead._ Ace took a fake impressed look.

"Really? That is cool!" Ace continued to watch the two interact with each other. Luffy and Rayleigh were pretty gestural, but their arm movement didn't match the words they were saying at all. It was hard to notice if you weren't really paying attention, but the two held a completely different conversation while seeming just as an old man impressing a youngster. The guard was listening intently to every word spoken by the two, but was looking around to keep an eye out for the other section members to stay in line.

The man left, followed by the guard, a few minutes after finishing their conversation and Ace started whispering in Luffy's ear. "What was that about?"

The boy smirked. "I let the H-Section know about next Sunday..."

The fire user couldn't help being impressed. When his little brother said he was the right person to deliver messages, he had no idea how much his little brother meant. From the information he had heard from the others, the H-Section was kind of a mystery to the others. If you tried to learn anything specific about their power, both of you would get a beating. If you tried to talk about anything specific with them, you would be beaten up too. Even if you just tried to learn anything about their routine, it was a direct trip to the fourth district too. In other words, it was pretty much impossible to discuss invasion plans with those people without having a death sentence.

It was impossible for everyone, except Luffy.

The older Portgas didn't know how his little brother manage to invent the code sign language they were using, how they understood each other or anything else, but he only knew that it was true. Luffy Could talk to anybody in the facility, send a message to anyone. He had to admire the boy for that, if he wouldn't have done it, the invasion would be a lot harder.

Law was sitting in a corner when he saw a man dressed in yellow and blond hair come closer to him. The boy glared angrily at him. "What do you want?" He spat. The man smiled sickly and chuckled. "Law, you shouldn't be rude, I don't want anything for now."

Law grit his teeth. Doflamingo had ruined his life in the past for free, at least now, the teen was going to have something in return.

"I just don't want you breaking your deal." Doflamingo said as he left the teen.

Chopper was talking to other Zoans all dressed in green. The little reindeer was amazed at their capabilities. A man in particular named Dalton was talking to the little boy who had a large interest in the other Zoans about his transformations.

Robin, before she was cuffed, would gather info about everyone by putting eyes and ears all over the room, but now, she walked around going from group to group in search for something interesting to catch her ear.

Galdino was standing against the wall, playing with a ball of wax he had made. He was pretty lonely, since he was in the facility for only a little more than a month, he didn't know anybody in the other sections and his friends in the C-Section were all talking with people he didn't know.

Kidd and Bonney were trying to learn to get along with everyone in the P-Section, since they knew they would have to put up with them soon. Yes, two years seemed like a lot, but it wasn't.

When the intercom announced the end of the community room, all sections went back to their dorms to change back into their white garbs. Luffy was smiling and Ace was feeling a little better for that. Of course, he didn't smile as much as when they were young or when he wasn't hurting, but he was smiling.

* * *

Lunch was pretty normal. Nothing special really happened, except for the fact that Marco had been pulled out in the middle of his meal to be taken to the fourth section, again. Everyone knew, even if they didn't announce it, were the phoenix was going, most knew what was happening to him and a few knew why it was happening. It had been like that since the commander's first day and it wasn't going to end soon, unless the flaming bird would talk.

In the last few weeks, the torturer had started being in a very fool mood. He was getting pretty tired of Marco's lack of responses and even his fellow scientists were getting scared of him.

Akainu wasn't known for his patience. He wasn't known for his positive attitude. He wasn't known for his smile. No, he was known for his lack of those three things and his and wrath. He was someone who was truly dangerous when in a bad mood.

While everyone was either training, getting health check-ups or being tested, Marco was sitting down, strapped to a chair and bit his lips until it drew blood to repress his screams. He couldn't even hear Akainu's constant loud shouts and questioning.

 _"Marco!"_

The voices pounded in his head like a hammer. Every time he heard any of them, a new tear would threaten to fall down, but the commander pridefully kept them in the best he could.

 _"You make me sick! Shut up!"_

Those memories were better buried and forgotten. Those voices belonged to people who had died long ago.

 _"Go to you room! You are a devil child!" The young teen took his little sister and got her into bed as fast as he could before heading to his own room. through the cracks of the slightly opened door, he could see his father holding a bottle of beer in one hand and raising a fist over his mother with the other._

 _*SMACK*_

 _The woman fell to the floor, crying and pleading. The man continued shouting and sat back in the couch. The boy pass his fingers over his spotless skin. He was the only one immune to his drunk father's abuse. Marco slowly but angrily closed the door. He wasn't going to let that happen again._

He had maybe lost his family, but he had found a new one, he thought, to make himself feel a little better. All the images of Pops, Thatch, Namur and all the others from his new family were soon replaced by the one who had died.

 _"All because of you! It's all your fault!"_

 _The knife dropped on the floor and he fell to his knees. He had killed the man. Not his father, the monster who kept hitting him, his mom and his sister. "Marco? Why is Daddy sleeping on the floor?"_

 _His mother entered the room. "What have you done?"_

He had killed his father, but this wasn't even the thing he grieved the most, far from it.

* * *

After dinner, taking the names of the senders and sending the messages, the Onyx team had gathered again. Luffy seemed much better so everyone's mood had lifted. Law took all the molds and handed them one at a time to Galdino. They took an hour to make every key and put a tag with the name and room member of everyone in the facility except the H-Section. It was done. In a week, they would all be able to escape this hell.

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	9. Chapter 9: Outside world

**Disclaimer: I do not own One piece. I own the plot of this story but not the characters on some other things like that, sadly.**

* * *

 _Everything is going well. Everything is perfect. All is going according to the plan and even better than that, so why can't I stop myself from thinking something will go wrong?_

Ace woke up on his eight day at the facility in sweat. He was getting used to having nightmares, but their was still that ill feeling every time he woke up from those nightmares. The fire user sat up and sighed.

Luffy woke up with a smile, he had almost completely healed, the only way his condition would be painful would be if he drained himself, but he didn't seem to have training today. The day of their escape was coming closer and closer. Everything they all went through to get to that day was finally going to pay. Everything was going perfectly, almost too well to believe after those months of torture and pain.

Sabo walked in the main street along with his father. They had just left their house and were both carrying a black suitcase. They smiled a crooked fake smile like everyone in town as a mask while turning left and right in those busy streets. Sabo's mother had stayed home today to meet with an important man from the royal family and try to get friendly with him. Of course, the behavior didn't seem odd, since every noble were trying to marry their sons or daughters into the royal family by getting close to them, but the Outlooks had another reason to get close. Information. The Outlook family, for generations now, had been a family of informant for whoever opposed the government, which was, at the present time, the revolutionary army. They even went as far Their middle initial in their name, whoever had that name was as good as dead for the government. The blond boy had been born in this crazy lifestyle and knew to keep his mouth shut, he couldn't talk to any noble of it outside of his family and had to be really careful to not get caught or decades of efforts to infiltrate the nobles from his ancestors would go in vain. The blond boy, Outlook D. Sabo wasn't a fool, he knew his place.

Approaching the edge of the city, they walked close to the wall separating the nobles from the commoners. It was rare for people to come by, so they were safe from anyone's eyes. They came upon a small house, if you compare it to the mansions of the main streets, and knocked three times. _Tap... Tap Tap._

The door opened a little showing a man with a green cape before opening fully, letting the two fake nobles enter. They went downstairs and put a green cape on top of their noble clothe, following the caped man in a tunnel that went under the wall and went up-stairs to where led a small shack. The walked out and walked around the city until they came upon a relatively big house, if you compare it to the shacks the poor lived in. They carefully entered and headed downstairs yet again.

"Names?"

"Outlook D. Aldrich, cover Outlook III, Aldrich."

"Outlook D. Sabo, cover Outlook IV, Sabo."

"You may enter."

The two opened the door at the end of the corridor and entered the room.

"So, Aldrich, you have the files I asked about?"

"Yes sir. We will have more Intel on the government's intention with the fruit users and a map of the facility."

"Good. Sabo, what about you?" The blond shook slightly. He wasn't scared of the revolutionary leader, he was a friendly man who saw him as family, but when they were talking business, the man could be intimidating.

"I have found information on an escape plan." The man, Dragon, nodded, not really interested.

"It was made mostly by your son." Dragon looked at Sabo with a questioning gaze and started laughing.

"Of course, Luffy could never stay put for too long. You told them to wait, did you?"

"As it turns out, the plan was also partly made by Whitebeard sir, they are going to attack from the outside while the users attack from the inside."

The man smirked. "When is this all happening?"

"Next Sunday."

* * *

 _"What information have you gathered on the users today, Sabo?" the boy opened his suitcase and took a file out. "There is a new kid in the C-Section. He is really friendly, so I managed to get close to him faster than I did with the others. Nine years old, black hair, his name is Portgas Luffy." The man's eyes widened._

 _"That's a fake name, I want you to investigate more on this kid." Dragon said quickly._

 _"How vould you know it is a fake name Dragon?" Ivankov said, leaning against the wall._

 _"Portgas. The name belongs to Roger's wife, Rouge. Her full name was Portgas D. Rouge. Nobody knew about her really-"_

 _"You are saying this is Roger's kid?" Aldrich said, surprised._

 _"No, Roger died three years before this one was born, I believe he is my son."_

 _The room fell silent. everyone was left mouth agape at the new piece of information on their boss._

 _"Why... How-"_

 _"I left Luffy with Rouge when my wife was taken, but she would never let Luffy or Ace-... Oh. So she died." The man sat back in his chair with a heavy sigh. First Roger, than his wife, than Rouge, than Luffy... All taken away._

 _"Do you want to engage and try to save your son?" Dragon grit his teeth. "I still need to know of her location and whereabouts."_

 _"Dragon, she could be dead by now-"_

 _"No. She is still alive. You all have to leave now." They all left the room, but as Sabo was taking the doorknob to close it behind him, he saw Dragon put a hand to his face and tears slowly and silently rolling down his cheeks._

* * *

The L-Section was in the testing chambers of the third district, all getting tests on their Logia abilities with a ton of guards around the perimeter to make sure they wouldn't try anything funny. A man with black hair and a few missing teeth grinned as he watched a scientist get in the room.

"You won't be able to stop anyone from escaping." The scientist frowned.

"Escaping? Nobody escapes. The people who tried are now _forgotten_. Do you wish to share the same faith?" The man's grin didn't leave his face.

"Oh, quite the contrary. I wanted you all to know everyone will escape this facility soon and, no matter how hard you try, no matter how much I talk, no matter how much you torture that phoenix guy or me if you feel like it, you can't stop it. All I am saying is, take advantage of that knowledge."

"You say we should just let everyone escape? You think that when I know something is going to happen, I am not going to try to stop it?"

"That is exactly what I am saying. If you do, you will probably get the information you wanted for so long, but I want a few things in exchange."

The man gained an interested crooked smile. "I am listening Marshall Teach."

* * *

"SPEAK OR YOU LOSE ANOTHER FINGER! DON'T TRY TO ACT TOUGH, I KNOW EVEN IF YOU CAN MAKE IT GROW BACK, IT HURTS LIKE HELL"

"I am not some dog you can just order to bark, sit down and roll over when you feel like it." Marco sneered. Akainu chopped another finger off, gaining a faint growl from the commander as blood started oozing from the cleanly cut wound.

"SPEAK!"

"S-Screw y-ou" Marco managed to say between two breath. This time, the scientist took his knife and cut three fingers off.

"I SAID SPEAK! TELL ME WHITEBEARD'S REAL NAME!" Marco chuckled softly, trying to get over the pain.

"I would flip you off, but it seems like I don't have my middle fingers anymore. Oh well. The intention is what counts." The commander was breathing heavily with all of his fingers cut off. He could barely see straight from all the blood loss.

"Fine. Have fun then." Akainu sighed as he plunged a needle in Marco's arm. The Phoenix couldn't even feel his cuffs being removed and his fingers regenerating since his mind was gone. The drug that had been administered was one that put your body under so much pain and stress while cutting off your adrenaline so you would feel everything and would hurt like hell. You have your blood pumping in your hole body really quickly until you couldn't think straight and then start to hallucinate, seeing monstrous images getting sealed in your memories forever like bloodbaths, gruesome murders and other things to scar you for life, sometimes even by your own hands. It all felt so real, being trapped in your mind by the guilt and pain coming from actions and decisions you never would do or pick. It was horrible.

* * *

 _"Oh my goodness! Luffy dear, don't go to near the stove, you will burn yourself!"_

 _"Mama... I was hungry!" The woman took the young boy in her arms. "Luffy, do you want to go play with Ace before it's ready, I haven't finished cooking."_

 _"I will!" The little boy ran out of the house and took of to the forest behind the house."Dragon, do you think he will be okay?"_

 _"Of course. I have taught him everything I could, he will be able to find Ace by following his voice."_

 _"I am not talking about him getting lost, I am talking about us. We both have dangerous... hobbies... and if we would be captured, Luffy would be left alone!"_

 _"What are you saying?"_

 _"Tonight, I am going on my last mission."_

But she never came back.

* * *

"That sounds like an interesting plan, but what are your proofs? How can we know you aren't going to turn against us?" The scientist snarled.

"You don't have to follow me to get that info, just plant it on one of the kids, Whitebeard will take the kids with him to get them to safety, you will just have to follow the signal and you will know the location of his base." Teach said.

"And how do you know this escape plan will happen?"

"Everyone knows, but it is hard to know who started it."

* * *

"SPEAK! TELL ME HIS REAL NAME OR THE TORTURE CONTINUES!"

"I SAID I WONT! NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO!"

 _Help..._

* * *

 _"I don't know what to do anymore! She was supposed to be back five days ago!" Dragon said, almost panicking._

 _"Don't worry. I will take care of Luffy. Find her. No matter how much time it takes." He sighed and looked outside where the four-year old was playing with the seven-year old in a three, trying, but failing, to built a tree-house._

 _"I owe you so much. Thanks a lot Rouge. Take care of the boys. I will contact the Outlook family, if she was taken by the government or the nobles, my best shot is to ask their help."_

 _"Just... both of you need to come back for him."_

But they didn't come back.

* * *

Luffy entered the medical wing, followed by his brother and they both entered their room. Makino smiled at the both of them and made them sit down on the bed. Ace sat and pulled his brother closer to him, still not able to detach himself from all those events that made him scared the boy would die. The gunshot, the blood burning his veins, his disappearance from their house, the first time he had seen Luffy fall from a really high point before knowing he had eaten a weird power granting fruit... Luffy had cheated death a few times and even if it didn't matter anymore Ace had seen Luffy suffer long enough, and he probably didn't even see half of his suffering.

"How are you today Luffy?" The nurse asked with a sincere smile.

"I am a lot better now! I feel like I almost completely recovered!" Ace sighed, a little relieved.

"Tomorrow, you will probably be completely recovered. I will stop giving you pain killers now since your condition seems to be a lot better."

"Thanks Makino!"

"And Ace, I see you aren't getting much sleep?" The latter tensed.

"It's okay Ace, when I first came, I had trouble sleeping too. Makino gives you sleepy pills and you can sleep through the night easily!" Luffy cheered with a smile.

"It's alright, I don't need pills to help me sleep."

* * *

"Master Sanji. You should stop moving around so much, you still need to heal!" The boy smiled to the nurse and stopped.

"It's okay, I am completely fine my lady. Mr. Vinsmoke made me and my siblings stronger than normal people, we heal faster as well."

"You should learn respect." The two of them turned around and were face to face with Vinsmoke Judge, Sanji's father.

"I am really sorry if I upset you master Vinsmoke, I will not do it again!" The man hit her and shouted at her to leave. "That is what the punishment is for doubting my judgement. I am the one who ordered Sanji out of bed and you will not say otherwise!" The man than looked down at his son.

"And you. Go back to training. You don't have a place in the kitchen!" He yelled angrily. The boy nodded and made his way to his training room.

* * *

As Luffy sat back at the dinner table, he felt something strange. A weird ill feeling. Something bad was probably going to happen soon. Still, it was hard to believe. Currently, everything was going well and they didn't run in too many problems, but it was almost too good, too easy. He tried to concentrate on something else, the senders. Their was a few, but only four. He looked up at Ace. It was the first time Ace seemed carefree and was smiling since Luffy's fight, worrying him now wouldn't be a good idea. Law seemed already worried about his own problem to care about a weird bad feeling Luffy could have and Robin seemed really tired from the cuff. She stopped wearing it at night, but she was still exhausted during the day even if it was better than before. Galdino wasn't someone he knew long enough to trust him for helping reassuring him and Chopper was too young and carefree to be worried by Luffy's bad feeling.

In the end, he kept it to himself and prayed he was wrong, but then again, his instinct was almost never wrong.

* * *

 _"Luffy. We can't stay here." Ace took the boy in his arms and started running. "Where is mama? Where is Papa? Why did they hurt aunt Rouge?"_

 _Ace hushed his little brother and continued running until they were out of the area. Luffy was crying in his shoulder. The boy knew what had happened, but didn't want to believe it. He couldn't hear Rouge's voice anymore. Her aura had completely faded away. The two boys continued to walk until they found a place where they could sleep without having to be on high alert. The smaller of the two slept while the other started looking around in the neighborhood. It seemed quiet, the soldiers didn't come close to this place. Looking up, he saw a flaming blue bird descend near him. The boy took a few step back, but the bird shifted into a human form._

 _"What are you doing alone in the middle of the night, yoi?" The boy's eyes narrowed and he started walking backwards._

 _"You don't have to fear me, my name is Marco, I am someone who protects people, not hurt, yoi" The boy stopped._

 _"Marco? Are you Marco the Phoenix? Do you know an old man called Whitebeard?" The commander was surprised, but didn't show._

 _"I do, how do you know him, yoi?"_

 _"My mother told me I should go search for a certain Mister Whitebeard if she couldn't protect us anymore." Ace said hesitantly. Usually, he would've been more reluctant to the stranger, but Marco seemed like a good person, and, from what he saw, he was a devil fruit user too, which meant he could be trusted to a certain point, since all users were stuck on the same boat._

 _"Us, yoi?"_

 _"My f- My little brother and me are on the run. We are fruit users."_

* * *

Luffy sat on his bed in his room C-05 with a sigh. The weird feeling from earlier hadn't left and he knew it was only a matter of time before something would go wrong, he just hoped it wouldn't stop his friends from being free once again. _All of this is giving me a headache._

 _Everything is going well. Everything is perfect. All is going according to the plan and even better than that, so why can't I stop myself from thinking something will go wrong?_

* * *

 **Here is the ninth chapter of this fic, I hope you enjoyed it as always. I put a lot of back-stories and flash backs in this chapter, I hope you were able to follow what memory is about what and when, I don't know if it is confusing or not since it seems really simple for me, since I wrote it.**

 **If you need some clarification on that, you can always ask. Thanks again for reading this chapter of Headache.**

 **Until next time!**


	10. Chapter 10: Rented

**_I do not own one_ piece**

* * *

 _Luffy... Go back to sleep. You need some more rest!_

Luffy stirred as he was about to wake up but the soothing voice in his head convinced him otherwise. The little boy took his white sheets and pulled them a bit closer over his head and fell back in deep sleep.

 _It's okay, I am still here._

He faintly recognized the voice as one he heard before, but nothing more. In his dream, the woman's face was blurry, but he could clearly see her dazzling smile. It was warm and made the raven haired boy feel relaxed for the time, even if it wasn't often he could be this relaxed anyway.

Half an hour later, a few seconds before he would be woken up by the intercom, Luffy suddenly woke up in sweat before he sighed. What had started as a dream had quickly turned into a nightmare. The woman had went away and he was back with his family and friends, all escaped and safe when it was all covered in darkness. It wasn't like they were in a dark room or anything like this, They had all been absorbed and almost eaten by the black clouds and the little boy couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong. He had been okay for the last few days until the day right before, but since his gut feeling hadn't left him yet, he was still on high alert.

The raven haired boy sat on his bed and looked straight at the wall, looking at what his brother was doing on the other side of the wall by observing his aura. The older boy was throwing and catching back a rock he used for the messages and seemed really bored. Luffy chuckled. Ace had never been someone who was easy to entertain, he always needed a new adventure, even if he wouldn't admit it. It was weird in a way, but Luffy knew his brother had always, in a really intriguing way, enjoyed, at least a little bit, the thrill of the chase. Being on the run from the scientists. He felt more alive knowing he had something to do and someone to protect, knowing he had failed to do one of those things that kept him standing, the little raven haired boy couldn't start imagining what it felt like for Ace.

In a way, Ace had been right. A few days prior, Ace had said Luffy's parents hadn't been around and Ace's had been dead before they got to know them. Luffy's parents, had always seemed completely immersed in their work, the little raven haired boy had barely known them. Ace's dad had been dead before his birth and Rouge, well, a big part of her had died with her husband. She was kind, to Ace and Luffy, but she barely could smile. She hadn't even try to fight back that much before she died. She was happy to have bought some time for Ace and Luffy to get away, but more importantly, she was happy to get back to her husband.

Gol D. Roger, the man of the Loguetown incident, also known as the king's day.

* * *

Luffy looked at Ace's figure through the wall. He was still looking bored out of his mind, but he stood and headed to the door. The rubber-boy turned around sharply, he hadn't even acknowledge the door had opened. Throughout the day, the two brothers kept a calm demeanor, It was only a mater of time and patience.

"Where is Chopper? He hasn't been there since this morning!" Ace asked at lunch time.

"Someone rented him." Law replied darkly.

The air around them tensed. Not exactly knowing what it was all about, Ace asked about it. He wasn't really pleased with the answer.

"A noble took him to his house to make of him the top entertainment of whatever event he is having right now. Chopper is being used as a damn freak show for some random rich kid's birthday." Luffy spoke quietly but with a tone of anger in his voice.

Nobody was really surprised by his little outburst. Everyone pretty much knew about Luffy's bad experience with the nobles. The scar with two stitches under his left eye was given to him at that moment and his big brother had wanted to ask about it, but seeing how Luffy would sometime brush his fingers over it with a look of guilt and anger, he preferred not to voice his thoughts.

"When will he be back?"

"A bit after dinner, he probably won't to be fed today, Chopper-san will probably feel dreaded, lonely and maybe traumatized by tomorrow." Robin said in a worried tone.

* * *

"Dragon, are we going to help in the invasion?"

"It will be the perfect time to get my wife and my son. We just need to plan this. If we go in without any idea of where they could be, it would be hard to get them to safety fast."

"Ace and Luffy were under Whitebeard's protection, he will get them out of arms way. We could focus more man-power on saving her."

"Good."

 _It's only a matter of time and patience before we can get to them._

* * *

Teach walked down the corridor with a sick grin. He had almost reached his goal. It was only a matter of time and patience before he achieved it.

"What are you smirking at?" Caribou said as he walked by him. The two were being brought to dinner a little later than the rest since some of the tests had been longer today.

"Nothing really." They sat down. A few tables away they could here someone shouting.

"WHO DID YOU SAY HAS A BIG NOSE?"

It was at one of the P-Section tables. A guy with blond hair and two different scars on his face stood. "Me, Bellamy. What are you going to do about it?"

The clown like Paramecia user yelled in fury and punched the other guy in the face the two started fighting until they were both separated and dragged to the fourth district. after that, the dinner continued silently as the other user didn't want to be in the same situation.

Luffy however hadn't even flinched from the loud noise of the two trouble makers. It happened from time to time for two users to start fighting since they couldn't handle the pressure. He continued taking the senders names as he always did, but he was still tense, worrying about Chopper.

* * *

An hour and a half later, the two users were still in the fourth district. There is blood all over the room and the two are unconscious.

"How interesting!" Kizaru said as he ran his finger on one of the bloodied torture weapon he held in his hands. He could use his devil fruit, but Light wasn't the best way of torturing, since He could hardly take his time before the user would pass-out. He had taken over this torture session since his college might kill one of them in his state. He was still in the room right next to them and you could hear him yell, even if the walls were supposed to be well isolated. For the last eleven month, Marco, the first commander of the organisation that posed on them the biggest threat, hadn't spoken a word of useful information.

But recently, they had learned they didn't even need Marco for the most important of this information.

Which made Akainu even more frustrated. Was all of this for nothing? He started torturing Marco more harshly, even if it wasn't needed anymore.

* * *

The next morning, Chopper had come back from his trip to nobleland. His eyes were blurred of any emotion and his usual childish and happy demeanor was gone. He had never been rented before, but now he had and they were all mad about it. Ace was mad at the nobles. Law was mad at the scientists. Robin was mad at the government for letting stuff like that happen. And Luffy, well, he was mad at himself for letting Chopper alone in this. For not taking his place. For not having tried to make it better for him.

Chopper looked at his plate with a dull glare. He didn't want to eat, he felt like it wasn't even worth it. He put his hoove over some raw fur-less skin on the back of his head. The skin was red and and Tinted with blood. A noble kid had clutched it and ripped it out. He was pretty sure the kid had thrown it away and had just did that for reason unknown to him. Probably sadistic reasons. The little reindeer shivered. The more he thought of his previous day, the more he wanted to throw up. When a friend would take him in his arms in affection, he wouldn't mind, he would be happy even, but the way he was handled was more of how bunch of three years old handle their stuffed toy.

He took his utensil and started eating slowly. His vision was dull and he felt only dread. Suddenly, a thought came to mind. He had been rented for only a day and felt like he wanted to die. Luffy had been away for almost a week back then. Even with his strong will, Luffy would have felt even worse than him, but he had kept a smile when he came back.

 _"Luffy are you alright? Did a noble do this to you?" Chopper asked as he pointed the wound under his eye. Luffy stiffened._

 _"Y-yeah. A noble did this."_

Chopper looked up at his friend and felt an even worse pain in his stomach. Back then, did Luffy get stabbed under the eye by a noble or did he try to kill himself?

* * *

Sabo came to the public room once again that day. They had talked about when the plan would be set in motion. All of the keys were identified and Law would be able to distribute them by himself. The ideal moment for the attack was when they would be in the community room. When everyone would go to change in their community room clothe, they would remove the cuffs and start attacking from the inside. Some people would secure Galdino and the H-section so they could make their keys at that moment. At the same time, from the outside, Whitebeard and the revolutionaries would attack. The young blond looked at the fruit users in front of him. Luffy and Ace were wearing determined expressions and seemed pretty confident. Law was more relaxed, but he seemed as eager to get out as the two Portgas brothers. Robin was smiling a little, but she still looked sad and worried over the little reindeer who was still really gloomy.

To be totally honest, it wasn't just them. Everyone in the facility were waiting for their cue to leave the hellish place. Some just wanted to see their family, some wanted their freedom and only that and some wanted to leave for other reasons, like Teach, but it didn't matter, at least for now. Sabo had to leave and the C-Section continued going through their day without any other difficulties. As night had come later on that day, they all thought everything was going perfectly. But it would never be this easy, not for the Portgas brothers...

* * *

 **I am sorry for the late update! I didn't have a lot of time to write lately. I will try to update the next chapter soon.**

 **This chapter is shorter than the others and rather rushed but the 'escaping arc' isn't that far away, I hope you all look forward to it!**

 **Thanks for reading this story.**


	11. Chapter 11: Something bad

**I do not own One Piece**

* * *

Day 11. Ace woke up and went through his usual morning routine until he could finally get out of his room. He followed After his group to go at the C-Section's lunch table. Luffy looked up at him and they both mentally agreed. _Something bad is going to happen today._ Why did they feel like that? The felt at the same time heavy and tense, like the universe knew of today's bad providence and every time the two boys felt that way, something bad happened. The day Luffy's mother disappeared. The day Rouge died. The day Luffy was captured. All those times, they had woken up with a dread feeling that today would change everything, but not in a good way. They ate in silence and looked around, more like scanned the entire room in search for possible clues of their future misfortune. Some of the people in the facility sent shivers down their spines, but the two Portgas brothers knew none of them were related to the problem.

"Ace-ya, Luffy-ya, what are you searching for?" Law asked as he looked at their curiously odd behavior. The two were always pretty relaxed while eating in the morning, well, usually.

"Nothing, just, if you notice anything out of the ordinary, tell us." They responded in perfect unison. They seemed so focus that Law dropped it but kept an eye out for whatever the two Portgas were searching for anyway.

Robin looked at Chopper. He had regained a little of his childish attitude, but the fear, the dread and the sickness didn't leave the reindeer's eyes. "Chopper?"

The tiny blue-nose kid looked up from his plate. "What is it, Robin?" He said with a fake smile.

"If you want to talk to someone, you can come to me." Chopper looked down and nodded as tears starting to gather in his eyes and blur his vision. He smiled a little, knowing his friends were there to support him.

"What do you think will happen today?" Luffy whispered.

"I don't know and I hate not knowing!" Ace whispered back, almost angrily. They were so focused that they barely noticed their friends' questioned looks as they talked in low voices to each other.

"I just know it's going to be bad for one of us." Luffy continued.

"I hope it's me, you have been through enough already." Ace said.

"Well, this isn't something we can just pass over, it is going to happen no matter what."

"Still would be better if we knew..."

"We just have to let it happen anyway, since it wont change anything."

Ace huffed. "I am not going to let anything happen to you!"

"It's okay." Luffy stayed calm, to calm for Ace's liking. It was as if he couldn't see there was a problem anymore and just forgot about it, but in reality, he was just as worried as Ace. Maybe even more.

* * *

"What do you have for me today, yoi?" Akainu ignored him and readied a needle to use on the Phoenix.

"Another drug? How original, yoi! I didn't even see that coming."

"SHUT UP!" Ignoring people wasn't really Akainu's strong point.

"It gets kind of boring if you always use the same tricks, yoi." Akainu set the needle back on the plate and prepared a second one.

"Why two?" Marco asked curiously. Akainu chuckled darkly. "The second one is more concentrated. It would kill a normal man twice over. I am just keeping it for the end... Maybe by the end of it you will have your conscious mind smashed to bits. That would be useful to get information out of you... not that we need it now, sadly."

"What the hell?!" Akainu took the first needle.

"This is simply a foretaste of your experience for later today." He punched the Phoenix across the face and plunged the needle in his arm.

A few seconds passed as Marco stood perfectly still before he started to scream in agony.

* * *

They all walked in line and made their way to the public room. Ace was still on edge and Luffy was trying to hide his worry. He was actually wishing himself the 'bad thing' would happen to him because he had an idea of what was a bad thing in this facility. He went in the room and when they were free to walk around, Luffy went to sit in a corner while Ace stood next to him almost protectively. Last time he had felt like that, he lost his little brother. It would not happen again.

Luffy just looked at the rest of the room with no real interest. A noble kid with a round head and brown hair with a yellow bow in them came close. She wasn't really pretty she was just looking like any other noble, but Ace and Luffy had a really bad feeling now.

"You two filth, show me your powers. Luffy stood up and obliged, while Ace continued being reluctant.

"I was talking to you too, weirdo! I am a noble, do as I say!" Ace uncrossed his arms and set his hand on fire. The noble brat came closer to the two and started grabbing Luffy's skin to see it stretch. The said boy started getting annoyed, but didn't say a thing since he didn't want to get in trouble. But looking at Ace on his side, he felt like it wouldn't even matter, his brother seemed furious. What made Ace snapped was when the kid noble hit Luffy and started to hurt him.

"Quit it!" Ace pulled the noble by the arm to get her to step back, but the noble glared angrily at him and punched him too. Ace pushed her away, making her fall back.

"Don't hit my brother!" Everyone in the room turned to the trio in the back. Sabo, who had just come in cursed under his breath and started looking nervous. "The idiot." He muttered.

Two guards came running to the scene. One was helping the noble up and get her back to her parent and the other went to hit Ace hard on the head.

"Wait!" It was Kizaru. He had entered the room a few minutes sooner and, as one of the head scientists, he had a say so on everything.

"This boy can't take a punishment." Ace paled. He remembered the words spoken to him a little over a week ago. _Luffy was responsible of him. If he caused trouble, he wouldn't be punished, Luffy would._

"He has been with us for less than two weeks. Go get his file." Luffy felt his legs go numb. He didn't want this. He fell to the floor and started breathing heavily. His friends gathered around him to help him but he sent them away. When the guard came back with Ace's file, Kizaru looked through it.

"How interesting! Where is the younger Portgas?" The scientist looked around the room before his eyes landed on Luffy, who had stood up again and taken a few deep breath to calm himself.

"Take the boy to Akainu in the fourth district." He ordered two guards.

Sabo had been looking at the scene without saying a word. He than slowly turned to Ace and sent him the most furious glare he could muster. Ace looked at the door where Kizaru and the two guards had come out with the most terrified expression.

"You idiot!" He shouted as he punched Ace square on the Jaw. Ace fell back, but didn't even seem to have registered it. Sabo then proceeded to beat the older raven haired boy up until tears threatened to fall. His punches became less and less powerful and Ace continued to look at the door with eyes that looked so dead.

Sabo stopped. "You know Luffy is my brother too..." He whispered. Ace didn't move.

"I didn't know that would be it..." Ace said as he bit his lips.

"What?"

"Me and Luffy, we knew something bad was going to happen. We were both on edge, so I snapped. I didn't know it would be my fault. We couldn't have passed over it. It was bound to happen..."

"Luffy is going to be alright."

 _I hope he will_

* * *

Two guards who were dragging a small boy entered the torture room. Akainu and Marco turned to watch their way. Marco had finally fought back the effect of the drug after an hour, but right before they entered, Akainu was about to give Marco the stronger dosage. The two guards strapped Luffy to the second chair.

"He is to be punished too. The boy he was responsible for caused trouble." Marco gulped. Luffy was only ten, but Akainu wouldn't care about that. He was to pissed and delusional to take the kid's age in consideration. The scientist smirked evilly.

"I will say this. Tell me everything I want to know or this needle will be in the kid's arm, not yours." Marco's eyes widened This was pure madness. Akainu was a psycho for thinking that was a good idea! Then again, he was crazy.

"Don't. The kid would die, yoi!"

Luffy looked at Marco with sad eyes. "It's okay. It will happen anyway." Both men looked at Luffy like he had said the weirdest thing. Maybe they were all getting delusional.

"Don't say anything he is asking you. Akainu is a mean guy!" Luffy said as he stick his tongue at the scientist. Marco than really started to panic.

"Shut up or he'll kill you!" Akainu punched Luffy in the face.

"Plus he looks stupid and is always angry." Akainu growled and punched Luffy even harder as Marco tried to get out of his shackles and straps as fast as possible, but failing.

"He is always loud and annoying..." Marco continued to struggle until he got one leg free.

"And he is booooriiiiiinnnggg." Luffy said quite loudly. Akainu growled.

"I'll show you boring!" He took the needle and put it in the boy's arm. The liquid transferred from the syringe to his vein as Marco kicked Akainu away, breaking the syringe in the process. But the damage was done. A little more than half of the concentrated drug was in Luffy's system. _The boy will die_. Marco thought.

Luffy felt his heart pounding in his chest, like it was going to jump out of it, but he was still happy. If he hadn't done that, he knew Marco would have said everything Akainu wanted to hear. If there was one thing he learned from Ace about the Whitebeards, they felt protective of everyone on the planet except their enemy and themselves. If a child was taken hostage against information, whatever the information was, they wouldn't think it through, they would say everything.

Marco was staring at Luffy with a horrified expression while Akainu was wearing a smirk. He knew terribly well what that drug did. It would switch your conscious and unconscious mind at an extremely fast rate you couldn't understand what was real anymore then it would show you horrifying images of the people you cared about the most being ripped apart. The only way to get out of the illusion was to fight through it and get out by yourself or die. The high concentration just made the pounding in your body more painful, the rate in which you switch from consciousness to unconsciousness even faster, the illusions more realistic and the time it would take for you to die would be shorter.

 **Warning, graphic/gore scene. (hallucination)**

Luffy's eyes started to blur. His thoughts couldn't even form a full word. The painful throbbing in his entire body was driving him mad. He looked up only to see Law and Robin looking at him with concern. Well, they would never show their emotion that clearly, but Luffy recognized it as he had often seen this expression on their face when anyone would have been in a traumatic or dangerous situation. He was about to scream their name and ask them to help but his throat was completely dry and parched. He could see a shadow behind them. Before Luffy could warn his friends, the figure behind them punched a whole through Law's chest. Law looked down before he coughed some blood and fell forward limply on the floor. Robin turned around with a terrified shriek and screamed in terror as the shadow ripped her arms off. The pain Robin and Law must have felt went through the young boys body as he felt himself being torn apart, but the pain was nothing compared to what he was seeing right in front of him.

"STOP IT!"

Marco looked at Luffy in worry and guilt clearly showing on his face. He had never been a really expressive guy, but the circumstances changed his usual calm demeanor.

Luffy's breath started becoming more elaborated. He sharply turned to his side where Chopper, Sanji, Galdino were standing. They smiled at him and started walking towards him before blood started coming from their mouth and eyes. The three of them continued to walk until they came to a stop right by Luffy's side. They started coughing more blood until Chopper and Galdino collapsed. Sanji went forward and whispered in Luffy's ear.

"You deserve it you know that?" Before the blond collapsed as well. Luffy started bleeding from his eyes and ears as well as the blood pumping through his veins became harsher and faster. The images continued. Everyone he knew were ripped to shreds. Some even killed each other. One even pierced another's chest and took his heart before he started eating it. Luffy gagged a little as he saw the scene. He wanted to scream, yell and also vomit, but his body wouldn't respond correctly. Blood was everywhere around him. The bodies weren't even recognizable as they were ripped apart and some were even put back together with someone else's part, as disturbing as it looked for the boy.

"Luffy."

Everything around him disappeared. He wasn't in the room anymore and everything around him was pitch black. He turned around and saw Sabo and Ace standing a few feet from him.

"Don't die please! Not you too!" The boy sobbed slowly as he moved forward. When he was right in front of them, Luffy reached to them but their image started melting like it had been touched by lava before it was sucked in by the darkness.

 _ **"ACE! SABO!"**_

Akainu started clutching his ears, trying to block the boys scream, but the voice felt like it was resonating in his head. Marco was completely immobile as he looked at the boy. Time had seemed to slow down around them. One after the other, the glasses in the room started to break and the one-way mirror in the room was shaking until it cracked and looked like it exploded.

* * *

In the whole building, some of the lights started to flicker until they broke. Everyone was yelling and clutching their head as a voice resonated in their head or had passed out. In the public room, Everyone was on the floor except two of them. Sabo and Ace.

"What's happening? Why are they all on the floor?" Ace said frantically.

 ** _"I am sorry. Please tell me you are still alive. Tell me this wasn't real..."_** Sabo turned sharply to Ace's direction.

"Did you hear that?"

"Yeah! That was Luffy!" Their little brother's voice was coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Everyone else in the facility could only hear his screams, but the two boys could clearly hear Luffy talking softly, as if he was thinking in their heads.

"Luffy! We are okay!" Ace shouted.

"I don't think he can hear you. How can we hear him?" Sabo was confused. He didn't really get what was happening and he started to think hard until it hit him.

"It's telepathy!" Ace turned to look at him.

"Are you an idiot?"

 _ **"Please... tell me you are both safe and okay. Tell me everyone is okay."**_

"I read it in a book somewhere. Some people with really powerful conqueror haki can reach the minds of people they are really close to. They can share a telepathic link or something like that and even more things like that. But I heard the condition for someone to unlock it have to be really traumatic or terrible. No amount of training can do that!" The two started to get nervous.

"Is he going to be alright?" Ace asked.

"Not if we can't calm him down! We need to reach him back!"

"Luffy!" The two boys started to yell again and again, out loud or in thoughts, trying to reach their scared little brother.

* * *

Luffy started to get delusional. His mind was racing and his heart was pounding. The white room in which he was currently sitting seemed like an unrealistic dream world while the strange assortment of colors and shapes his mind was trying to put together seemed to be reality to him. He felt as if his mind would melt.

 _ **"Luffy!"**_

The words came from two voices he would recognize anywhere. His thoughts seemed to regain a sort of order as he listen to his brothers' voices.

 _ **"Ace? Sabo?"**_

The two boys sighed in relief. The screams everyone was hearing seemed to stop in a second.

 _ **"Don't worry. We are alright. Everyone is."**_

The world regained his original colors and Luffy found himself to be back in the torture room of the fourth district. Marco and Akainu were staring at him in disbelief as the raven haired boy was smiling with tears tainted in blood started to drip on his cheeks.

 _ **"I'm happy you are all alright, but we wont see each other again until we escape."**_

Ace and Sabo frowned as everyone in the room started to stand up slowly.

 _ **"Why?"**_

Luffy looked down.

 _ **"You know why..."**_

* * *

 **Done! So this is the eleventh chapter of headache! Hope you liked it! There will be a few more until the escaping arc, but I don't think the story will end there.**

 **Thanks for reading as always!**


	12. Chapter 12: Aftermath

**Disclaimer: Blah blah blah ownership blah One Piece.**

* * *

The entire facility had fallen in complete silence. Marco was looking wide-eyed at the poor boy who had shown a tremendous amount of haki. Akainu had left to the room next door to try to understand what just happened and took out Luffy's file and in the rest of the building, 86% of the people, scientist and fruit users alike, had fallen unconscious to Luffy's outburst and some of them were currently trying to stand up. Ace and Sabo were trying to wake up and take care of their friends in the C-Section, but they were all in deep sleep.

All doors in the facility and other places were people could pass through locked themselves as one of the security measure against that kind of situation. Luffy was panting and wore a smile on his face. Ace, Sabo, Robin, Chopper, Law, Galdino, everyone he cared about, were still alive. As breaking the silence in the entire facility, Luffy laughed. This seemed to wake the other one in the room from his stupor as well as giving life to everything around.

The boy didn't even know or care about why he was laughing, but it seemed so amusing in his head. It was so absurd. He had been scared all morning of what could happen to him or his brother, now he had unlocked a powerful technique that would make the scientist see him as a threat. He had become stronger. Even than he felt a bit scared. He would be sent to the H-Section. He already knew a bit about it from Rayleigh, but he knew it would be even worse. And the scientist wouldn't go easy on him since he was a kid. Hell, it could be even worse on him since he had proven to have conqueror a haki.

But for now, everything was okay. The security cameras of the room had overloaded and were out of commission for now, so talking a bit more freely was fine now too.

 ** _"Ace, Sabo... Can you hear me?"_**

The boy waited in silence. Every second without a respond seemed like an eternity. The young boy even started wondering if the 'something bad' wasn't suppose to happen to him, but his brothers instead and it was happening right now, but he dismissed the thought in relief at the sound of his blond brother's voice.

 ** _"Yes. What happened to you?"_**

Sabo asked worryingly through their link.

 ** _"They injected me with a weird drug and I kind of freaked out a bit."_**

Ace chuckled dryly.

 _ **"Freaked out a bit? Almost everyone is knocked out!"**_

Luffy chuckled sheepishly as he continued to chat casually with his brothers. Marco was trying, but failing to get his attention while Akainu was in the next room, sealed by all the locked doors, and was cursing as he filled a new page in Luffy's file.

"Kid! KID! Luffy, LUFFY, YOI!"

 _ **"The Phoenix commander is trying to talk to me, we will continue this later. By guys!"**_

The boy didn't let his brothers say good-bye as he shut them out of his head. "What is it?"

"You know what you just did, yoi?" Luffy sighed and looked at his feet.

"Yeah. It was stupid. Now I will be sent to the H-Section." He said with a pout.

"This is serious! You say that like you are a kid who did something wrong in class and is being sent in time out, yoi!" Luffy chuckled.

"There isn't that much of a difference." Marco sighed.

"What do you think this place is, yoi?"

Luffy grinned and leaned closer to Marco to speak in his lowest tone. "I don't really care since we will all be out soon." Marco smiled back. This was Luffy after all. The one behind almost every crazy schemes and events in the facility in the last ten months. How could this startle the kid.

"And I can still talk to my brothers so everything is alright." Marco stared again.

"What do you mean?"

"Now we can talk in each other's head, but that's a secret!" He whispered with a smile.

 _'What is wrong with this kid?'_

* * *

Everyone was coming back to their senses in the Public room and the nobles started whining, since they couldn't leave before the lock down was stopped, which could take a little while. In the mean time, No one could leave the room they were in. The onyx team, Sabo and Chopper, (minus Luffy) gathered in a corner of the room to discuss what had just happened.

"Ace-ya, Sabo-ya, you were still standing while everyone past out, do you know anything?" Law asked a bit annoyed. While everyone had been going crazy from the screaming in their heads, the two boys had been completely okay, if not worried for everyone else.

"What is the last thing you all remember before passing out?" They all frowned. Their memories of it had become really hazy, but Robin's eyes widened as she remembered the voice.

"Luffy... It was Luffy! He was screaming in our heads!" Everyone else looked confused.

"It's true, but how?" Galdino asked.

"We are not totally sure, but Luffy said he was injected with a drug that made him freak out and unlock conqueror haki." Ace started.

"It's probably why you heard him in your heads and passed out and why we can now communicate by sending our thoughts to each other... Or something like that." Sabo continued. Before any of them could have a strong reaction, Ace and Sabo shut them up and continued. "Luffy wont come back to us."

This seemed to shock all of them, but it came as no surprise with the display of power they had just witnessed. Luffy was obviously going to be transferred because of this.

"But you can still talk to him right? He is okay right?" Chopper asked with eyes full of hope. The reindeer had went through enough, he didn't want to lose Luffy too.

"Yes, we just... aren't sure exactly how it works yet, so I don't think he can contact any of you guys." They all nodded with a hint of disappointment, but could all understand.

"But he is still okay, right?" Galdino asked to reassure himself Luffy was okay. Whatever happened, the boy felt like he could endure it if Luffy was still standing. It was strange, but seeing Luffy was alright and confident gave him and even others more strength.

"Yes. He is chatting with Marco right now I think." A few of them frowned.

"Marco...?" They asked.

Ace sighed. "The guy who practically lives in the fourth district."

"OOOH! That guy!" They all responded in realization while Robin chuckled.

At the same time at the other side of the room, Aldrich, Sabo's father, was keeping the guards and scientist busy to let his son get every piece of information he wanted. He kept complaining about how outrageous it was to keep them locked up like any other noble would do and was even joined by some of them. It was ironic because they were all shouting about how unfair and unacceptable it was for nobles to be caged like this for around 30 minutes to an hour while the users in the facility were locked inside the facility 24/7. The informant almost wanted to laugh, but it was better not to blow his cover.

* * *

 _*Cough*_

Luffy's throat was burning and he coughed out blood as he tried to talk to the Phoenix.

"Are you sure you are okay Luffy, yoi?" Marco asked in worry as Luffy spat more blood on the floor.

The boy nodded and tried to get his coughing under control as he fought the tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

"Liar, yoi." Luffy chuckled softly.

"I feel like my insides were put in a blender. It hurts, but I'll live. If I survived until now, I will be okay."

"But you wont tell your brother or the blond, yoi."

"Of course I wont tell my brothers! Ace would try to do something stupid if he knew and Sabo would probably be dragged into it!" Luffy said in fright.

"I can imagine it happening..." Marco said as he thought of the hot-headed teen.

"Ace used to tell me about you and the other commanders." The boy next to him was smiling with a trail of blood coming from his mouth. It would look creepy if it wasn't for the fact that Luffy seemed nostalgic and happy as he talked.

"Oh? He did, yoi? He didn't want to tell us about you at all since he was scared of pulling you in this mess. He didn't even tell us you were a devil fruit user, yoi." Luffy looked at the ceiling with a sad smile.

"It usually starts like this. Ace tries to protect me, but it only put me or him into more danger." He spat more blood and cringed.

"Luffy!"

"I... am alright... Just... My head hurts... a lot." He said as he breathed heavily.

"Are you sure, yoi?"

"I was screaming in everyone's head for five minutes straight, I think this is why."

"It was more like thirty seconds..."

"Really? It felt a lot longer. I was completely out of it." Luffy tried to think of something else, but his whole body felt like it was on fire. He leaned back in his chair and Marco looked worriedly again at the kid. Even if Luffy wasn't a normal child that was tougher than most of them, he couldn't deny the tears running down his cheeks.

"How did you get caught?" Luffy asked out of the blue.

Marco seemed startled by the question. He didn't really like being reminded of it, but he started to whisper. "Our system works like this: Every commander has a neighborhood under his protection, yoi. People from his division will constantly take turns to survey the streets to see if any soldier would come in our territory. The government hired some assassins to take out our look-outs and when I went to see if they were okay since I couldn't get them to answer, I got ambushed. I fought but they were too many. They had killed a lot of members of my division that day, all the ones who were look-outs that night, the rest were at the base. Soon the area was under their control, yoi. They took me here for information, but I wouldn't spill. The only information they got was from one of my subordinates. He revealed to them the number of fruit user in the area. He said their were 12, told them their addresses and name. But counting you makes 13. We didn't know you were a user so you weren't reported to them. They knew 7 of them had escape and caught the four others. Ace was at the base with us, so when they saw you, they probably thought you were the one reported as 'the young Portgas with raven hair' and called it a day, yoi."

"At least it saved Ace more time." Luffy said with a smile

"It did."

"Ace used to tell me you guys were the generous people who protects people, gives us money and a place to live. Even before him, Aunt Rouge said that. She said if I can't be there for you two anymore, find the Whitebeards." Marco looked at the kid with curiosity.

"It felt nice. Knowing someone would always look after you. Be it Ace, Rouge or the generous hero people. Someone was always watching over me. I had never felt alone until that phone call." Luffy stopped, took a good breath and resumed.

"One of my friend who lived nearer to the limits of our neighborhood saw the soldiers approaching. He called me and told me to run. I then got a call from Ace...

* * *

 _"Luffy, hide! Our neighborhood is in danger! The one in charge of protecting it has been captured!"_

 _"Ace, stay where you are, you can't come for me now. If you are reckless you will be caught. How can you save me then?"_

 _"What are you talking about, I will come and get you!"_

 _"It's to late, they are here."_

 _"Hide!"_

 _"I can't. They know I am a user already and wont let me get away. You are at Whitebeard's HQ, you are safe and this is all that matters"_

 _"What about you?"_

 _"Ace, whatever happens, don't get caught."_

 _"Luffy-"_

* * *

...But at that moment, when I hung up, I felt so alone. Rouge was dead. The nice hero man was captured and Ace... he was safe." Luffy smiled. "I would go through that again and even worse without questioning it if it means my brothers will be alright. I can survive the H-Section, Whatever happens." Marco felt like Luffy's presence tripled and glowed. The raven haired boy was so confident and spirited, he couldn't help but believe he was right.

After another half hour, The doors all over the facility reopened. The C-Section returned to the Cafeteria and the nobles went back home. The other Sections were brought to the cafeteria as well, even the H-section. When everyone was seated, whispers were spreading through the room. Most people couldn't really remember quite well what happened before they fell unconscious, but others could clearly remember as they recognized the voice and one of the names that rang in their heads. Those were staring at the older Portgas brother and were looking out to see where was the younger. When they couldn't find him, that's when they started to really worry.

Akainu than entered the room, dragging a cuffed and bloodied Luffy behind him and Marco in a less bad shape, but still pretty bad.

"Little announcement, we are having a transfer for the H-Section." Everyone looked at Marco and waited for him to walk to the table with every Haki user, but he sat at his usual table, making everyone who weren't completely clueless to what was the H-Section pale. Which meant almost everyone. Luffy was dragged to his new place and looked at the cuffs on his wrists in boredom. They didn't put chains so it would still be easy to move around but he felt so tired. The cuffs drained him of all his energy he had left from the already draining experience he felt that day.

 _ **"Ace. Don't worry, I am okay. Say this to everyone. We will still escape soon. We will see each other Sunday in the public room."**_

Ace nodded and transferred the message to the others. In the entire room, half of them were trying to process the information of having a kid in the H-Section, but the other half started to think and put two and two together.

 _'There wouldn't be any messages anymore in the facility.'_

"Marco, he's the kid you talked about?" Drake asked in a low tone. Marco nodded and the other man seemed to be deep in thoughts again.

Luffy looked at the other people around the table and felt each of their auras. They seemed intimidation, but they were all friendly and sympathetic towards him. They all looked at him like they were really sorry for what was going to happen to him next. Rayleigh looked at the boy with a confident grin. If any of those around the table could take it, Luffy could too.

They ate and went back to their afternoon 'activities'. Luffy walked to a scientist that he knew wasn't too mean and asked innocently.

"Am I going to be able to see my brother soon?" The scientist crouched and gave the boy a sad smile. "Not until next Sunday." The boy nodded and went back to the others of his section. They came in a room he had never seen before. actually, it was an entirely new area to the facility. The rooms were all in the area next to the few medical rooms, testing chambers, training rooms and torture room. It was like a smaller version of the facility with all the same districts but all compacted in one district. The fifth district, or the private H-Section district.

Luffy shook in slight fear. If their was one district reserved to them, it couldn't be a good sign, right? He had heard a few of the details from Rayleigh but this was beyond what he could imagine. Their fisrt stop was the medical rooms. They rapidly checked up Luffy's bleeding, but moved up to another room as fast as it came. Then came the testing room...

* * *

Ace was siting on the hard bed of the medical room he was assigned to with Makino who was checking his vitals.

"It feels wrong! Luffy is not here and it's my fault!" Makino came closer and took the boy in a hug. The teen stiffened in surprise but returned the gesture.

"Luffy-san will be alright, you know him, he is probably smiling right now." Ace clutched his head and growled a little in pain.

 _ **"Ace! Sabo!"**_

* * *

Sabo followed his father through the city as they always did when they had to report to Dragon. They came up to the base in less than an hour. It didn't take long before the two Outlooks were in his office and Aldrich was reporting the earlier event. Sabo fell to his knees and took his head in his hands to try to stop the pain.

 ** _"... A... Ac... Ace... Sa... Sabo... Ace! Sabo!"_**

* * *

Luffy felt like the pain was unbearable. He just wanted his brothers close. Whatever they had injected him made the pain from earlier come back. Right now, a scientist was yelling at the other saying he shouldn't have injected the still recovering boy, but it was too late for that.

 ** _"Ace! Sabo!"_**

Sabo was so far away, it was hard to reach him. As he tried to call them, his stress and some of his pain went through their link with the message. The boy was squirming, but the two other boy reassured him.

 _ **"We are here. Always will be, don't worry."**_

He calmed down and sat up slowly. He was going to survive this.

* * *

 **Chapter 12! I hope you liked it. Now that Luffy is in the H-Section, I need to know who to put in this section. give me your thoughts!**

 **I already planned to put Boa Hancock, Rayleigh (already there), Shanks, Chinjao and maybe others. I am not sure yet. Please give me your thoughts on that. The only thing is they have to have at least one form of Haki.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	13. Chapter 13: Memories

**Hey! I know it's been a little while... But here it is! Chapter 13 of Headaches. I am really happy for all of the people who are reading this and I love reading your reviews so thank you all!**

 **Disclaimer: One Piece is not mine, I believe it is owned by Oda...**

* * *

 _ **"We are here. Always will be, don't worry."**_

The pain in Sabo and Ace's head suddenly stopped. They stood back up and sighed. They couldn't help but worry for Luffy since he was in the H-Section now, a section with only adults and the highest security in the facility. They both knew Luffy was strong enough to handle it for the few days before they leave, even if they didn't like it. Makino questioned Ace about his sudden headache, but he shrugged it off and she forgot about it, but Aldrich and Dragon who are were in the same room as Sabo while he was trying to reach his little brother eyed him in curiosity and suspicion as the blond was getting back up.

"Are you okay Sabo?" Aldrich said as he looked at his son with a worried but severe expression. The boy nodded and smiled. Dragon narrowed his eyes.

"Is something the matter boy? Do you need medicine? Maybe you should go see Ivankov."

"No sir. I was just..."

What could he say? _I shouldn't hold back any information from Dragon, he is our employer and Luffy's father. But will he believe me?'_

"I was just... Communicating with your son and Ace, sir." Dragon raised an eyebrow.

"What are you saying?"

"Well..." And Sabo went on, explaining the last development with Luffy at the facility and their new way to talk. At the end of his explanation, Dragon didn't say anything, he just smirked, nodded, took Aldrich and Sabo's report and sent them out. Sabo's father didn't ask about it either, he just stayed silent the whole time.

"Son, let's go back home. Your mother is preparing dinner." Sabo nodded.

* * *

When he went to his bed that day, Ace felt empty. He hadn't saved his brother. He only kept pulling him into the worst situation. Every time he mad a decision he thought he was doing to protect Luffy, he ended up in danger. Luffy hadn't spoken to him much all day, most of the time, he shut their connection so his two brothers wouldn't have to hear him. He didn't know why, but still, Luffy had promised to talk when they were in bed.

 _ **"Ace."**_

Ace sat straight in his bed.

 _ **"What is it Lu?"**_

Luffy's voice was dull and heavy, he seemed really tired.

 ** _"I was wrong."_**

Ace froze in fear of what could have happened to him.

 _ **"Are you okay?"**_

 _ **"They are all scared. I thought they would be stronger than that."**_

 _ **"What are the haki user scared of?"**_

 _ **"You don't understand."**_

 _ **"What?"**_

 _ **The haki user aren't scared, The scientist are scared of us."**_

* * *

 _Sooner that day, after Ace and Sabo reached Luffy..._

 _Luffy calmed down and sat up. He was going to survive this._

 _"What is this drug anyway?" The two scientists stopped shouting to each other and stared at Luffy, taken aback._

 _"It's a drug that calms you down, but mixed with the effect of the one you were injected with today, it only puts you in pain."_

 _"Oh... Why did you give it to me? I am already calm." The two scientists looked at the boys dull eyes with a mix of dread and confusion. Wasn't the boy suppose to be in pain?_

 _"So I wont act out and try to escape?" They didn't reply. Luffy smirked._

 _"You know I am ten years old? I have two sea-stone cuffs and you think I still need a drug to keep me calm?" He chuckled. "Are you scared? If you were all powerful enough to keep us under control, you wouldn't need the drug nor the cuffs. Does that mean you are all weak?"_

 _The two scientists gulped. There was also two other guards in the room and both of them shivered slightly. They weren't the strongest in the facility, but they weren't the weakest either. The H-Section... Was just full of monsters. They wouldn't even hurt them to much in fear of angering them. Keep them in control with drugs and cuffs and a ton of guards._

 _"Stop talking and get to the training room." One of the guards said relatively firmly. Luffy went, followed by the two guards._

* * *

Luffy's voice seemed to grow heavier and heavier by the second.

 _ **"Luffy, stay awake!"**_

The other boy was nervously playing with a rock on his night table.

 ** _"Oh, yeah... I wanted to ask... Can you talk to Sabo without speaking to me? I can speak alone with Ace or alone with Sabo or both at the same time, but can you two speak to each other without reaching for me? It could be good if you could while I am not... available."_**

Ace raised a brow. He hadn't thought about it, but it was bound to be necessary in a near future.

 ** _"I'll try after we finish talking... Luffy?"_**

 ** _"Mmh?"_**

Luffy's strain and tired thoughts almost didn't manage to reach the older Portgas brother. His drug induced mind was getting more and more heavy until he fell asleep, leaving Ace who just chuckled with a sigh. At least, Luffy didn't sound to bad, just tired.

Ace had never been the best in Observation haki, but now, with his bond to Luffy, he could faintly feel his presence under his feet. He didn't know where exactly, but Luffy's section was farther away from the surface than he could imagine. On the other hand, he could also feel the blond's presence above him but at a good distance. He was in high town, probably at his home. Not too surprisingly, it wasn't far from the facility. The raven haired boy closed his eyes and tried to reach out for the blond.

 _ **"Sabo."**_

No response. His low voice couldn't really go too far and Sabo was outside the facility.

 ** _"Sabo... Sabo!"_**

The blond seemed to have caught up as he shifted in recognition.

 ** _"Ace? What is it? Did something happen?"_**

Ace smiled. Sabo and him could communicate at anytime. Luffy and him could communicate at anytime. It filled the young teen with a sort of overwhelming feeling of relief and happiness. Him and his brother had always hated being alone, but now, he wouldn't feel alone if he had his two brothers not far away. He stilled. Since when did he start considering Sabo as his brother? He had grew up with Luffy and always took care of him, never caring much about everyone else. Now, he felt like, in a place where you can only feel loneliness and fear, he had met new people who made himself feel freer than he ever felt. With the Whitebeards, Ace had felt a similar emotion, but not to this extent and not with people- friends the same age as him. And Sabo, well, Sabo was his brother now too.

 _ **"Nothing happened. We are fine. Just wanted to know if I could talk to you without Luffy."**_

Sabo smiled.

 _ **"I am happy we can."**_

* * *

On the morning of Ace's 12th day, Luffy prepared himself for the day sleepily and without too much energy. He was grinning happily even without his usual energy since yesterday's drug didn't hurt anymore. When he got out of his room, a guard was at his left, looking his every move. The other people in his section got out of their own room one at a time.

First was Rayleigh. He knew Rayleigh a little more than the others. He was a nice old man who would always be there to help him or explain complicated things. He seemed to always look out for him, like much of the others from H-Section, since he was really young for the H-Section.

Then there was the red-head. His name was Shanks and he was really laid back. He would smile a lot and wasn't scared of the guards. He would often say jokes and be loud, even if the staff of the facility hated it- especially since they hated it actually. One thing Luffy had learned in his first day here, there was clearly two different categories of users in the H-Section. The ones with conqueror haki and the ones who didn't. The guards were clearly too scared to tell a conqueror haki user to shut it. Which included Shanks, Rayleigh, a woman named Boa Hancock and, well, him. They weren't as scared of him as the rest, but still enough to not go as hard on him than the others.

Hanckock had taken a liking to Luffy the first time she saw him. Luffy was the youngest in the Section by more than ten years with the previous youngest, she, and some others, had felt protective of him. Aside from them, there was Hancock's two sisters: Sandorsina and Marigold. they were both really kind too.

Next there was that weird creepy guy that was convinced he was god. The only thing Luffy thought was worth noticing with the guy was his long earlobe. Anything else than that from the man was irritating and annoying.

Then, there was Dracule Mihawk. He seemed like he wasn't a bad guy, but he didn't talk to other people much. His only friend seemed to be Shanks, but apparently it was also the man that he wanted to kill the most, the young raven haired boy shrugged, every one in this section was, at the very least, a bit odd.

Last was Boo, Chinjao and Sai. Chinjao was kind of peaceful guy, as it seemed, but his friend boo was kind of hot head who would always try to start a fight before he was immobilized by four guards. And it happened three times since Luffy had first arrived. Which wasn't much long ago. Sai was a bit emotional and would overreact sometimes.

As they made their way to the eating area to have their breakfast, Luffy made sure to analyse each scientist and guards in the room. It was a habit he had started to develop for his own survival since he had started being on the run. Analyzing everything around to see what kind of people they were. He was a pretty good judge of character as he was told. There was twelve guards around their table. Two scientist were here too. The first one had scars over his two eyes. He wore the white lab coat with purple colored shirt under and was talking to the second one, who took notes of what he was saying on his clipboard.

 _The first one was blind... But he could still see them._

The second one was the young pink haired intern from a bit more than a week before. He seemed a bit more serious and professional. The first time he had seen him, he was always playing with his round glasses nervously, but then again, this time, no one had a gun to shoot at anyone. Did they really send new interns in the H-Section? Maybe the ones from yesterday got scared and wanted to change section. Nobody else wanted to be sent here so the intern had to go? Probably, but the intern, Coby, seemed calm.

 _Oh well_

* * *

Ace, Robin, Law, Chopper, Galdino, Kidd, Bonney... actually everyone in the C-Section ate in silence. Some of them were staring at Luffy's empty seat and sighed. It wasn't something new for the day to be heavy and hard on them, this place was a prison, but it was still weird not having the little boy around. They all maybe didn't know much about him, well, except Ace, but Luffy was still the kind to naturally attract people into becoming friends and fond of him.

Law smiled. Luffy had brighten up his stay at the facility like no one else, it felt less lonely with him around.

* * *

 _Law sat in the corner of the public room, looking down at the ground with an empty look in his eyes._

 _"What are you doing alone here?" Law perked up. In front of him was a raven haired nine-year old looking at him with big curious eyes. Law sighed. If he recalled, the boy was the new one from a week before, Portgas... Something._

 _"What do you want Portgas-ya?" The boy grinned._

 _"Call me Luffy! What's your name?"_

 _"Trafalgar Law." Law looked back down, trying to ignore the boy, but the said boy took his wrist and started dragging him to the other side of the room._

 _"Oy- Stop!" He dragged him to where a black-haired girl named Robin was standing._

 _"So... It's him?" The boy asked and the girl nodded._

 _"What do you want?" Law said, irritated._

 _"Robin told me your fruit could make things teleport." He said in a low tone._

 _"Not exactly, but go on." The boy had changed attitude from grinning idiot to serious and mischievous. Law, even if he didn't know why, really got interested._

 _"We would need your help..."_

And the mailing system was born after a few attempts a few weeks later.

* * *

Law couldn't help but chuckle at the memory. Luffy had always been like this. He went straight to the point. If he needed something, he would get it in the next 24 hours.

Robin was looking at her wrist cuff. She had received it a while ago, she was more used to it now, but Luffy wasn't. Was he really okay? Maybe he was getting really tired and sick! She remembered her first day she had them...

* * *

 _"I... feel weird..." Robin stumbled as she walked to the cafeteria for breakfast. Luffy and Law were sending her quick worried glances, which was somehow out of character for her two closest friends, since the first one was usually always cheerful and the other always seemed either annoyed or bored. She smiled._

 _"I am fine. It's just new... and tiring." A guard gave them a quick warning to shut it. She panted a bit as she continued to walk. When they arrived at the table and took her first bite, she was on the verge of breaking into tears. She just wanted to go back to sleep... maybe forever._

 _She felt so heavy and her energy was drained. Completely. The food tasted like a used sponge. She bit back a sob when she heard her friend's voice._

 _"Robin." She lifted her eyes and Luffy was looking at her with a soft and comforting smile. "You are very strong. This isn't hell yet, you aren't alone."_

 _Robin's lips curved upwards. Law was supporting her as well. She smiled. Tears were threatening to fall, but she wiped them off. This wasn't hell or anything. She had friends. For the first time since she had eaten the cursed fruit, she had friends. She had left hell the minute she met Luffy and Law._

* * *

Robin rubbed the skin sore from the cuff. It wasn't hell yet.

Kidd smirked. The loud little boy was really something. He had always convinced himself the obnoxious kid was just annoying, but now that he was gone... It was different. Just like when he had come back from his little trip to the noble's house. He had never entirely come back from there, he thought.

* * *

 _It was dinner already... Luffy had been gone since four days ago and would be gone all week... only three days left._

 _A loud door slam made everyone turn to the other side of the room. Luffy was walking toward the C-Section table with a patch under his left eye. The scientist that was with him hit him and yelled an insult, but he didn't seem to care. His pupils were shaking rapidly from side to side and were a little dilated. When he sat down at the table, everyone looked at him in expectation of an explanation._

 _"Are you okay?"_

 _"What happened?"_

 _"Weren't you supposed to be rented all week?"_

 _"Oh god, Luffy what happened to your eye? How did you get hurt?"_

 _Luffy didn't answer. After a few days, he was smiling again, but the shadow in his eyes never left. even a month after, even two month later, he still had the dark shadow in his eyes that stopped him from smiling as wide as before._

It was gone when Ace came actually... but never completely.

* * *

How was he now? It was hard for the older teen to know.

Chopper fidgeted at his food, he wasn't really hungry right now. Was he going to see Luffy and the others again after the escape? The little reindeer never really thought about any of that before, but with the escape so close, he realized. He had no idea where to go! All he knew was the facility, his friends. They were probably going to see each other again right? He looked down at his plate. His friends were all he knew. The only good he had seen in his life.

* * *

 _"Chopper!" He turned to see Luffy, Law, Sabo and Robin waving at him to come closer to them. When they were all in the corner, Luffy giggled._

 _"What are you guys doing?" Sabo smirked almost evilly._

 _"We are messing with people who pissed us off..." He said with a light chuckle._

 _Robin crossed her arms and a small hand grabbed on a snotty noble kid's show to make him fall._

 _"Shishishi..." Luffy sat down, then Law stepped forward._

 _"I am next."_

 _"How? People will see you making a room." Sabo pointed out with a sly grin._

 _"You didn't notice? That's good. We are in one right now..." Law smirked. When no guards were watching them, Law lifted his arm and sent a small rock to the head of another kid noble. He got angry and started shouting, asking who had done it. He did it again. Soon, the kid got mad and threw a rock at a fruit user, but missed, hitting another noble instead. It quickly escalated into a war between the snotty nosed kids and the real culprits were chuckling in the corner._

 _During the rest of the Public room that day, they all continued to prank the nobles without getting caught._

* * *

Chopper thought back to that day and chuckled his friends were the best. Better than anything. If he had to be separated to be free, he wouldn't want to leave. He wanted to be with them more than having freedom. Maybe having both would be possible?

Bonney took a big bite out of her toast and smiled.

* * *

 _"Hey, miss-pink haired lady!" Bonney stopped training to turn to the nine-year old boy to her side._

 _"What is it?" The boy grinned._

 _"Is it true you can change people's age?" He asked innocently_

 _"Yes, why?" His smile changed to a smirk that screamed of mischief._

 _"Can you turn the guards into babies?" She pulled her smile into a line._

 _"You wont be able to escape like that you know..." He shook his head._

 _"I don't plan too. I just thought it would be really funny!" She chuckled._

 _The next thing they knew, the training was full of little cute baby version of the usually almost scary guards and the C-Section kids were all laughing and mocking the guards as they picked them up. A few minutes later, Bonney had been cuffed and both her and Luffy had been sent for a quick trip to the fourth district, but they both agreed, it was totally worth it._

* * *

She chuckled. Luffy was definitively okay. Whatever happened.

Galdino hadn't known Luffy for as much time as the others. He had been there almost month and a half, and before they started planning the escape and making keys, he had talked to Luffy a few times only, but he had still enjoyed is few talks with the other boy.

* * *

 _"What are you doing?" Galdino yelped as he straightened up, fearing a guard was behind him, but it was only Luffy, one boy in his section._

 _"I am making small wax figures." The other boy crouched and looked at the artist's work. They were pretty good and detailed, but they were all white, without any paint for the colors._

 _"Who are they?" Luffy asked._

 _"This is may dad, my mom and my sister. I haven't seen them since I got here... Do you think I will ever see them again?" He asked with a tint of hope. The other boy grinned. " Don't worry. We will make sure of that. Actually, we could use your help, your ability could help us..." The other boy smirked and went back to his friends to discuss something important..._

* * *

Well, now, he was part of those friends Luffy would run back too. And he was glad.

Ace was okay. Luffy would talk to him regularly in the day, telling him a few phrases or an anecdote or a asked a question out of nowhere since they had started communicating telepathically. Sabo had received a few of those weird thoughts too. Sometimes he was asking about the normal length for an earlobe, sometimes just if they were okay. It was reassuring to know he was fine, so Ace wasn't too worried. It had been a long time since he truly hadn't been worried for Luffy, and it felt warm.

* * *

 _"Say hi to Rouge's child Luffy, he is three years older than you, his name is Ace." Dragon held his tiny fifteen months old baby with a smile and set him down on the floor next to where Ace was sitting, playing with big blocks._

 _"Da!" Luffy took a block and put it in his mouth. Ace growled a bit._

 _"Don't do that!" He took the block out of Luffy's tiny hands and the boy giggled._

 _"Shishishi..." Luffy destroyed the others tower and Ace was on the verge of getting angry but stopped when he looked at the little baby boy's smile. Ace stood and took the boy in his arm to go sit in the living room. The three parents in the next room chuckled. A few days later, the two boys were inseparable. Every day when he would wake up, Luffy would climb out of his crib and get to his parents' room and start saying Ace over and over again until the two would give up and take him in the woods, where the other boy lived._

* * *

They all smiled fondly at their memories and went back to eating their meal with a smile grazing their lips. Even a few hours later, in the public room, things weren't that bad. The day after tomorrow would be the day to remember.

 _ **"Ace! Sabo! Earlobe-guy was having his 'I am an invincible god' moment again during the training and tried to electrocute me when I laughed at him, but since I am rubber, it didn't do anything. You should have seen his face! it was hilarious!"**_

* * *

 **End of chapter 13! I am so sorry it took me almost three weeks to update, but I am still alive. I just didn't have much time.**

 **So, I listened to some of your requests for the H-Section, but not all since I wanted the H-Section to be canon Haki users.**

 **I am really excited for the few next chapters! Thank you again for your support!**

 **When I read your reviews, it only makes me want to write more and update faster, it helps me a lot, thank you.**

 **I just fixed it! I am sorry I forgot Sai the first time!**

 **Until next time!**


	14. Chapter 14: Fujitora

**Disclaimer: One Piece isn't mine, Ace died in One Piece. Of course, I didn't write that! I am still in denial!**

* * *

Ace and Sabo were discussing in the corner of the room when 5 blond kids entered the room again. They were the same from the week prior who had come to train with them. The third one, Sanji, shifted his gaze around the room before it landed on the two brothers talking in the corner. The boy frowned and ran to them.

"Hi... Hey, Where is your little brother Ace?" He bit his lips. "He isn't still injured from last week is he?" The two other boys exchanged a look.

 _ **"I don't trust him."**_

Sabo sighed and glanced at the other blond.

 _ **"From what Luffy told me, you don't trust anyone."**_

Ace's eyes narrowed.

 _ **"He hurt Luffy!"**_

He shifted to Sanji. "Why would you care anyway since you hurt him?"

Sanji looked down. He didn't know Luffy, but the boy wasn't bad. "It's not like I had a choice!" Sabo put his hand on Sanji's shoulder to make him back down. "Luffy's perfectly fine, he was just transferred section."

Sanji looked at them with a frown. "He isn't twenty yet, why would he?" Ace bit his lips while the other boy looked down. Both of them felt bad for it, even if Ace was the worst of the two. Sabo leaned closer and said in a low tone.

"He was sent to the H-Section. For Haki users."

The swirly-brow boy's eyes widened in realization. Luffy was strong-willed. He saw the way the boy had fought, but to think he would be sent to the H-Section? His father funded the facility, so he knew a lot about it. The H-Section was for the truly powerful beasts from what he heard. The people who would never be broken, the people who would bow down to no one, even after being stripped of their freedom and thrown in cages, those people always managed to stand back up. In a way, it wasn't surprising that Luffy ended up there if he thought about it.

"I am sorry to hear that. I wanted to apologize too, for hurting him I mean. He seems like he often gets into those kinds of messes, though... I am sure he will pull through better than anyone." They nodded with a small smile.

 _ **"Ace, Sabo, I was talking to Hammock, but** **while** **I tried to finish my sentence, she did a weird noise and hugged me all of the blue calling me 'adorable' and 'cute'. What's that about? What's wrong with Hammock? It's kind of weird!"**_

Ace and Sabo snickered. They were having a heavy conversation about a certain raven-haired boy, but the said boy would break the mood even without being there.

Law narrowed his eyes. "What's so funny?" He sighed. "What did the idiot say again?" Since the day before, it had quickly become obvious that whenever Ace, mostly, and Sabo laughed, smirked or grin for no apparent reason, Luffy had something to do with it. Sanji frowned, not understanding the situation.

 ** _"Well, nothing is wrong with her, she just wants to get a hug because she wants one. The thing about adorable and cute is just what people think when they talk to you."_**

Ace said, teasingly. Sabo turned to Law. "Luffy is just being himself, don't bother."

 ** _"I am not cute!"_**

Ace chuckled. Sanji's frown deepened. "Isn't Luffy in the H-Section right now?" He looked around, searching for the familiar raven-haired boy.

 ** _"Hey, by the way, Luffy, Sanji says he's sorry for last week."_**

Sabo huffed, out of the blue.

 _ **"Are you guys with him right now?"**_

 _ **"Yeah!"**_

 _ **"Thank him for the food for me!"**_

Ace's eyes widened slightly. He had totally forgotten Sanji had done that. He turned to the blond and smiled.

"Luffy thanks you for the food." Sanji was taken aback. He thought Ace would be freaking out and would be in no way capable of doing something as positive and cheerful as smiling. Luffy was gone in the H-Section! But... What did he mean by 'Luffy thanks you for the food'?

"What?" Sanji turned to the other blond.

"Nothing, Luffy was just happy about the food and mentioned he wanted to thank you for the other day."

"Oh... Well, next time you see him, tell him it was a pleasure!" Sanji said as he walked away with a smile before he started fawning around Robin.

Sabo and Ace giggled as they relayed the message to their little brother. The later smiled and went back to his training. They had him fighting against different people from the H-Section to see how strong the boy was and for once, Luffy didn't hold back. It wasn't because he didn't care about getting caught anymore, it was for his own survival. He didn't hesitate to use observation haki and the tiny bit of armament he could muster to defend himself. Some were going easy on him, didn't try to hit him too hard or tried hitting him places who weren't endangering his life. Some others went all out. Those were the ones who didn't know conqueror haki. They knew of the consequences for not going in a fight with everything they had and Luffy being a kid meant nothing since even some of the scientists were scared of the kid because of the wave of undeniably strong conqueror haki they had felt the other day.

He evaded attacks, jumped and kicked, but at the end, he was struggling to stay upright. The scientists finally decided they were done for the day when the ten-year-old stumbled and fell to his knees panting heavily. Hancock crouched to his side and help him stand but his legs could barely support his weight. Rayleigh looked at the youngest Haki user with a knowing smile. The raven-haired boy had a lot of potentials. Some of the other haki users even looked tired after their fight with the young rubber-boy, which was a big achievement on its own.

"Are you okay kid?" Shanks asked as he sat next to him on a bench of the training room. Luffy looked up.

"Yeah, I have a few bruises, I am really tired, but I am mostly okay." He smiled down at him.

"Good, you look like hell, but your strong, kid." Shanks laughed while Luffy rolled his eyes.

"Of course I look like hell, you guys are all monsters!" He responded with an accusatory expression.

Shanks laughed again. "You are one too, little buddy!"

Luffy pouted and looked up at the red-head until he started laughing too. He didn't know why, but he felt relax. He felt like he could lay down and breathe for once. Some of the people he met in the H-Section had that aura around them, a really relaxing aura. After a few minutes, the kid fell asleep. Shanks looked at him and stood, going to spar with Rayleigh a bit. A few dozens of guards and a few scientists were placed all around the room as he went. One of the scientists, his name was Fujitora, signaled two guards to follow him outside of the room when the boy had fell into deep slumber. One of the other guards was right next to Luffy now, making sure the brat wouldn't try anything funny, even if he was completely out cold right now. Shanks sighed. They were never too careful, as they said.

"Worried about our new friend?" Rayleigh said as he lifted an eyebrow to the red-head.

"Who wouldn't? He's ten for god's sake!" Shanks responded in an almost frantic tone. Rayleigh looked over his two fellow king's haki user. They have always been on top of their games, always looking down on people, men, for Hancock or being completely laid back all the time for Shanks. What surprised him was how one boy could make the two most level-headed person he knew, beside him and Whitebeard, worried. A ten-year-old conqueror haki user none-of-the-less. Maybe it was for the best, maybe not. The only thing he knew was that things were getting interesting in here and he knew about Luffy's escape plan. The whole facility was going to be thrown upside down.

* * *

Ace narrowed his eyes as a scientist with two guards entered the room eyeing him and Sabo as the blond had started acting like a prick to keep his facade. The scientist had scars over his two eyes had his face directed to him even if his eyes were closed. One of the guards nodded to the scientist as he glanced at him before the guard walk to post himself relatively near them. He couldn't really figure out what it was about, but he knew one thing, the guard didn't decide to go there randomly, he was keeping an eye on the fire logia teen.

Sabo had seemed to have caught up with it as well as he continued his acting. It almost took Ace by surprise as he listened to the blond insult him. Even if he knew it was to throw the guard off, but perhaps the blond was too much of a good actor as he treated him like trash since Ace flinched and looked at the other one with a hint of anger.

 ** _"Ace, calm down, you know I don't mean any of it, right?"_**

Ace sighed and turned around slowly to get as far as he could. Of course, he knew Sabo didn't mean it, but he had never liked being called a demon, a piece of thrash or an inferior human with a puny existence that only consists of a miserable life, then death. At that moment, when he looked at Sabo's eyes, he didn't see hate or anything that hinted the words he spoke were true, but those eyes were almost blurred as if the other boy wasn't a hundred percent with him. It shouted disgust, disappointment, and anger, but it wasn't directed at the fire user, it was directed at himself. In that moment, while the two were in a situation they hated with their freedom, mostly Ace's freedom, was taken from them, Ace felt closer to the blond that he had ever been. He walked away as he thought back of Sabo's eyes. He hated himself so much at that moment, the raven-haired teen could have sworn he was looking at himself.

 ** _"Sorry..."_**

They both chorused as they left each other for the day. As Ace walked away, He noticed the guard would subtly follow him. He tried to ignore it, but he knew something was off. The question was, what was it that the blind scientist who had spoken to the guard wanted?

* * *

"I want a guard following the two Portgas brothers at all time. There is something out of the ordinary about them." The guards two guards who followed Fujitora nodded and one of them moved closer to the fire logia. Fujitora and the other guard exited the room.

"Get me their file and take it to my office, I will be waiting for you to read it."

"Yes, sir." The guard walked away. When he came back into Fujitora's office, the scientist asked him to sit down and he started reading the two boys files.

"Portgas Luffy and Portgas Ace. Subject number H-10 and C-06. The first one is ten years old and the second one is thirteen. Luffy has been in the facility for ten and a half months while his brother has been with us for the last 12 days. He was still under the younger's responsibility until yesterday when the younger has been transferred. He is now under the responsibility of a certain Nico Robin for the next two days. The conditions in which they were captured are different for the two. The first one was captured during our invasion of one of Whitebeard's neighborhood under the Marco the Phoenix's protection. We suspected them to have been involved with the group, but they are both too young to be part of it. They were both probably just being protected."

Fujitora nodded and made a sign to continue.

"The oldest, subject C-06, has been captured less than two weeks ago when he was at Marijoie's gate, shouting for the nobles to give him his brother back. From what we could observe, subject C-06 is very protective of subject H-10. Subject H-10 has a Paramecia devil fruit called Gomu Gomu No Mi and Subject C-06 has a logia devil fruit called Mera Mera No Mi. The youngest has also proven he is capable of using observation Haki well and has shown to be able to send uncontrolled waves of conqueror Haki. Nothing suggests that the older one has the same talents."

Fujitora nodded again. "Good. Keep an eye on them. Cuff the older one." The guard frowned.

"We haven't seen any clue that could indicate subject C-06 has control of his fruit."

"We didn't have a clue for the youngest's control of observation haki either. The kid didn't learn it overnight, he already could use it even before coming here. Who knows what those brothers are capable of." The guard expressly exited the room as Fujitora fell back deep in thoughts.

* * *

 _"Fujitora sir. We have been informed a small group of users has been making an escape plan involving everyone in this facility and the Whitebeard gang. Their escape is inevitable." Fujitora turned to face the other scientist accompanied by two guards._

 _"Who informed you of the escape plan?" He said in a monotone voice._

 _"A test subject from the L-Section, Marshall Teach. He also gave us a way to turn the situation around."_

 _"You have my attention."_

 _"Put a tracker on one of the kids to be led to Whitebeard's Headquarter. The old man will probably take them with him to keep them safe. Any other adult would sense it." Fujitora nodded._

 _"Don't speak of this plan to any of the other scientists and guards, they would make them know we are aware of their plan."_

* * *

"Who am I going to put a tracker on now..."

He thought of every kid in the C-Section. He could put it on the youngest, Tony Tony Chopper, but the Zoan's different form could damage the tracker as he changes from a form to another. The fire logia would burn the tracker... The flower paramecia is sharp, she would notice it instantly... He continued going over all of the young children of the facility, but no one really fitted, until he thought of the youngest Haki user. He needed to take the kid to a medical room while he was unconscious to be able to put the tracker under the boy's skin in a place he wouldn't notice. They just had to exhaust him during training the next day and he would be free to do it. Plus, the kid was under Whitebeard's protection in the past, they were sure he would take him back.

Fujitora smiled and went back to the H-Section's training where he got to see the young Haki user get the upper hand against the prick who called himself God. Honestly, it was very fun to watch.

* * *

When dinner came after an afternoon of training, Ace sat at his usual place in the cafeteria when a guard walked up to him.

"Subject C-06, stand up and lift both of your arms at your eye level."

Confused, Ace executed himself. He looked up to the guard only to see him put a cuff on his left wrist. His eyes widened as he felt his legs under him go weak. He used all his strength to stand upright.

"You can sit back now." Ace looked at his wrist in disbelief. He hadn't shown any control of his devil fruit. They maybe thought he got angry to easily and decided fire was dangerous. He turned to Robin with eyes showing dread and confusion. She smiled softly.

"Ace. It's okay. Don't worry." Ace swallowed and looked down.

"I feel drained, it's exhausting. How can you wear that as if it was nothing?" Law looked at Ace dead in the eyes.

"We should be happy I wasn't the one who was cuffed. Then we would be in trouble."

"I mean... Luffy wears two of those things!" Ace said as he pointed the cuff. "Luffy!" He huffed suddenly. He had a hard time getting to talk to him a few times this afternoon, but he knew he was mostly okay.

 ** _"Luffy! Sabo! Listen, it's important."_**

The two's aura perked up at the sound of Ace's alarmed thoughts.

 ** _"The bastards cuffed me!"_**

The two huffed and went back to what they were doing. Ace seemed upset.

 ** _"Aren't you at least a little worried?"_**

Sabo shook his head and answer directly with a no as Luffy chuckled.

 ** _"Ace, of course, they cuffed you! I mean, your little brother is in the H-Section, of course, they would cuff you at the very least, just to be sure. Plus, fire is dangerous. I am surprised they didn't cuff you sooner."_**

Hearing how calm Sabo and Luffy were made Ace relax. He knew it would be hard for them until the escape, but he still had his brothers, so nothing could go wrong. It was the end of Ace's 12th day. Soon, they would be out

* * *

 **So this is the fourteenth chapter, hope you liked it.**

 **I uploaded a new story called Dead silent, I would enjoy it if you would go check it out!**

 **This text probably has more errors than before, my online corrector was removed or something, if you could suggest me a new one, I would enjoy that!**

 **Until next time!**


	15. Chapter 15: Tomorrow

**Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.**

* * *

Tomorrow...

Luffy woke up full of energy despite the heavy feeling left by the sea stone cuffs on his wrists. He beamed in his room in excitement. The thought of their day tomorrow was so relieving that he didn't care anymore about being held in a prison-like facility since tomorrow, he would have his freedom back. But that was tomorrow. Today was something totally different.

 ** _"GOOD MORNING!"_**

Ace and Sabo both fell off their bed at the sound of Luffy yelling in their minds. They sat up in annoyance and sighed before remembering tomorrow was the big day, explaining Luffy's excitement. They both smirked and started getting ready for the day. Ace put on one of his identical white shirt and pants with his section and subject number on it and stared at his cuff until the door finally opened.

Sabo, on the other hand, put on one of his many fancy outfits and took his top hat before heading to the kitchen where his mother was already cooking breakfast. She was humming a song she used to sing to him as a lullaby when he was younger. They didn't really have servants in their house, well, they did, but it was only to keep up appearances. In the privacy of their home, they would treat them well and give them a lot of days off. Half of them worked in the revolutionary army and were there to help them gather info. The other half were ex-slaves that had lived in the worsts of conditions in the past. The Outlooks had been treating them so gently compared to their previous owners that a few of them had cried. It didn't take long before they started being very friendly towards them, but only at home.

Luffy got out of his cramped room and skipped to the training room. They didn't really have a schedule. There was a ton of guards around and they would go training and into the testing area and, once in a while, when they started getting really tired or hungry, they could go eat in the H-Section cafeteria. They always ate alone or with one other person and were accompanied by at least two guards each. The only time they were really alone was in their room and Luffy almost certain there was a hidden camera.

But it didn't matter.

 _ **"Good morning Lu!"**_

The two responded to him in synch. Luffy giggled and started training, as always. He was sparring against Shanks today and the older man wasn't moving all that much and he easily won. Luffy wasn't really beaten up, but still, it was frustrating to see the red-head mocking him. Still, to everyone's surprise, Luffy had managed to land a few hits.

Fujitora had entered the room to look at the H-Section's training. The first half of the day, they would train with their sea stone on and when they started getting really tired in the afternoon, they would remove it to practice their devil fruits. They would use non-sharp weapons like staffs. Used to spar with Ace with a metal pipe, Luffy's movement with a wooden staff had been a lot quicker. Fujitora smirked seeing the young boy jump around and strike. Each of his steps, dodges and strikes seemed calculated and precise, giving only a few openings to his opponent, that easily spotted them to strike himself, but he was still fighting well against the second strongest Haki user, and that was an impressive feat on its own.

"Halt everyone," Fujitora spoke and all eyes turned to him. Every step he took, everyone in the room felt heavier and heavier. The weakest, mostly guards, ended up on their knees after 3 steps. The gravity inside the room had quadrupled as the blind man walked to the youngest.

"I will spar with you. I will evaluate myself your skills. Don't you dare try hiding anything from me. Fight me like your life depends on it because it does." Fujitora was one of the few people in the facility who wasn't scared of the H-Section's conqueror haki users and one of the rare figures of authority over them. He returned the gravity to normal and everyone gulped. The young haki user nodded since there was nothing else he could do and took a fighting stance.

Fujitora quickly took his sword out and lunged at Luffy. The boy yelped and evaded the attack. He had never seen Fujitora fight before and even if he knew the scientist carried a sword, he was surprised the man would use it. He had thought that they couldn't have sharp objects in the facility in fear of a haki user hurting a guard or scientist. This just amplified the fact that Fujitora didn't fear anyone in the facility.

The blind swordsman continued with successive strikes and Luffy continued evading his attacks. He jumped rolled and stepped aside until one strike he wasn't fast enough to evade. He put both his arms in the air and blocked the blow from cutting him half.

"That is impressive. You coated your arms in haki. If you hadn't done that, I would've cut both of you arms off." Luffy's eyes widened a bit in a mixed expression between fear and pride, he had never managed to coat his arms in haki before, Ace was better at it. He even could coat them so they would have a clear metallic color, which had often made Luffy say he looked like a robot.

Fujitora stepped back and observed the young boy. He was still standing and looked like he could put up a real fight, even if he looked a bit tired. Fujitora smirked.

"Now, come attack me with all your strength." Luffy took a large breath and everyone in the room was looking at their fight in expectation. Luffy closed his eyes and put one fist on the ground. He remembered the technique he had used without wanting to against Sanji the week prior. He just had to find a way to make it less hurtful for him...

There was something in Fujitora's expression that made him uneasy. The man wasn't showing any emotions, but he clearly wasn't bored. He was deeply concentrated and paid very close attention to every move he made. His stance was rather relaxed but still on high alert in case Luffy would try an attack that wasn't expected. He was serious, not just playing around or satisfying his boredom. He was calculating and testing what Luffy could do.

The boy pumped the blood in his veins and quickly adapted to the new feeling as he took larger and harsher breaths. "I see you are using this new technique you developed recently. Good." Fujitora praised without changing his tone. Luffy disappeared only to be found right behind the scientist, ready to punch him in the head. Unfortunately, his eyes widened as he saw Fujitora was now facing him with a smirk. He had already engaged his attack there was no way to turn back now.

Fujitora slashed at Luffy with the dull side of his blade, but even then he managed to do serious damage. The dull side of the blade wasn't that dull after all. Luffy gripped his chest in pain and stood up. He disappeared again and threw a few punches, but, even if only a few had hit, Fujitora seemed almost impressed. The youngest haki user swiped his leg, kicked, punched and threw a few original moves in the battle, but in the end, He was the only one getting injured. His breath was so raspy now, every occupant of the training room could clearly hear it. The boy fell to his knees and his skin turned back to normal.

"Losing a battle means death," Fujitora said in a sharp tone as he turned to leave the room. Luffy stood on his wobbly legs. "I am not dead yet, so, I didn't loose?" Fujitora smirked as he sensed Luffy taking back a fighting stance. The kid wasn't very strong yet, but he had the willpower to get to the top. It was just too bad it wouldn't be on their side.

"Very well."

* * *

Ace was nervously pacing in the training room, burning things to keep his mind off his worry.

 _ **"He isn't answering!"**_

Of course, he was failing to do exactly that.

 _ **Well, I don't think anything bad happened to him so relax."**_

Sabo's voice almost sounded frantic, though, not as bad as Ace's, but still stressed out.

 _ **"It's LUFFY! Of course something bad happened!"**_

Ace was completely on fire now. A guard glanced at him and took a bucket of water that he quickly dove on the teen's head before putting his cuff back on his wrist harshly. They had started bringing lots of water buckets when Ace went to train or do tests, he had a tendency to burst into flames uncontrollably when his emotions got the better of him.

 ** _"Can you please calm down? I am starting to get worried too. I could talk to him just fine not so long ago."_**

Ace took a deep breath before he went back to normal.

 ** _"Stop shoutn'..."_**

His calm completely turned into worry as he heard the youngest's voice.

 ** _"LUFFY?! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?"_**

Sabo was a bit better on his side as he still thought Luffy could handle himself.

 ** _"Are you alright?"_**

Luffy was alright, just completely out of it. His 'spar' with Fujitora ended up with him knocked completely unconscious and, since he woke up, he had felt only the numbing feeling of the drugs he had been administered. It was kind of weird, He could barely register the sense of touch when his fingers grazed on the metallic chair he was sitting on. Still, he couldn't get that particular idea out of his mind.

 _Something seems off_

He couldn't understand why and couldn't really identify what, but he knew the weird drug was at a much higher dose. He couldn't even speak a sentence without spouting nonsense. Not the kind of nonsense when you start talking about unicorns and dinosaurs sitting on a rainbow, the kind of nonsense when the sentence didn't, in any context, made sense. Actually, those weren't even sentences, they were more of an association of words, syllables or sounds that expressed weirdly well how he felt right now. His thoughts sent to his brothers almost made sense, but weren't really coherent as well.

 ** _"Ace, I think they broke Luffy."_**

The other boy nodded, still confused by Luffy's words. Som of those words, he realized, he didn't know what they meant, but Sabo quickly assured them they weren't actual words.

 ** _"I hope we can fix him."_**

Still, Ace thought, it was better than not hearing the cheerful rubber boy at all.

* * *

As night came by and everyone went back to their room, everyone was getting frantic. Law was going over his keys and patterns again to know exactly which key belonged to whom. He had to not screw up so everyone would be out and have their freedom back...

 _Most of them anyway_

Ace and Sabo had gotten over their worry, well, not completely, and were now thinking through everything that would happen, repeating to each other the steps and the plan for the next day in details, over and over again until they both fell asleep in the middle of their telepathic communication.

Chopper was sleeping soundly, dreaming about the outside world trees, birds, and the blue sky.

Robin was using her devil fruit power to write notes that would be sent with the keys the next day.

Galdino was nervously playing with his wax, making mini statues as he couldn't sleep.

And Luffy, lastly, was in admiration for his hand, as if he had never seen it before.

* * *

"It is done," Fujitora smirked.

The scientist had put a tracker on the young haki user. Now came the tricky part. Fujitora had tested Luffy's capabilities a few hours ago, he had observed the boy had dulled reflexes and had a had a harder time to observe in advance Fujitora's moves as the fight went on. The more the child was tired, dulled and exhausted, the less observant he became. All he had to do now was keep the boy in that state of mind until he escaped to lead them straight to Whitebeard.

 _How he would do it was the fun part._

* * *

 **This chapter is rather short, I know, but the escaping arc starts in the next chapter!**

 **I am always very pleased to read your comments, so if you could leave a review, I would really appreciate it!**

 **Thank you for reading my story as always!**

 **See you next time!**


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